By Proxy
by Sykira
Summary: Hurt/comfort shag-or-die, lots of Jack&Donna, but definitely of the Ten/Donna shippy persuasion. Thanks to Denise Marilyn for the britspeak, Kristy for proofing, and Tardis-Mole for style inspiration.  Please consider leaving a comment, it means so much.
1. Chapter 1

**Warning: not dubcon but has that shag or die dubcon feel.**

**Please consider leaving a comment if you are reading, it means the world to me.**

The look in the Doctor's eyes as she was led away from him haunted Donna with every step she took; every step taking her away from the Doctor and every step bringing her closer to Jack. _What was she doing? What had she done?_

Her bare feet were cold on the stone floor. For some unfathomable reason their captors had demanded her shoes and when she'd given them a bollocksing they had gotten a bit shirty with her. Jack had all but flattened the one soldier who had tried to take them off her himself. Donna had given them up quickly after that, she didn't want Jack to get hurt. Anyway, shoes seemed a small sacrifice compared to what they were about to do.

They came to a halt in front of a wrought iron door so imposing it took two soldiers to open it. The ground was damp here and she fidgeted, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as the cold moisture seeped between her toes. Jack's arm moved around her shoulders and he made a soft shushing noise. They waited for an interminable length of time as the soldiers appeared to struggle with the heavy door.

Donna found herself leaning into Jack, only noticing she was doing so when he held her tighter in response, his lips warm at her cheek as he soothed her with quiet murmurs. She closed her eyes and breathed him in. He smelled like leather and something else she couldn't place, redolent of warmth and familiarity.

She had trouble making her feet move again when they were motioned inside. One soldier tried to move her along and earned himself an "Oi!" so loud he cringed away from her.

His arm heavy around her shoulder, Jack leaned down again to whisper in her ear, his fingers curling around her arm as he helped her get moving.

"It's going to be fine," his hushed tones were confident, intimate even, his lips brushing against her ear.

He led her all the way into the middle of some kind of cavernous room, dimly lit, almost like a dungeon. Donna's heart was beating too fast, the blood rushing in her head, and she grabbed for Jack's hand, not looking at him, willing herself not to panic. She barely registered as their captors melted away around them, and she jumped as the door clanged to, leaving them alone.

They stood close together, not moving. This room was smaller than the grand foyer, thankfully. As her eyes adjusted to the dark Donna scanned desperately for another way out but the door they had just come through was the only exit.

Donna focused on trying to breathe normally. So silly to get all worked up like this, she schooled herself firmly, it was just Jack, they'd been travelling together just the three of them long enough now that they were all comfortable with each other. Right, so no big deal, just get this over with and be on their way.

They were alone, or so it appeared, but there were openings cut into the rock all the way around the circular room. A circle of candles surrounded a tall platform bed. The light was dim everywhere else, but Donna could still feel alien eyes on her.

Jack didn't say anything as he held up her hand, still clasped in his, and moved to stand in front of her.

She looked up at him as he placed her hand on his shoulder then lifted her around the waist before she knew what was happening, hoisting her easily up onto the high bed in the middle of the cavernous room. She gasped and he paused, his hands still on her hips as he stood in front of where she now sat on the ledge.

His eyes were very dark as he moved one hand to brush her hair from her eyes. Donna swallowed down some nervous quip, suspecting her voice would probably wobble and give her away anyway. Jack seemed about to say something to, but instead his fingers moved around to cup her face for a moment before he started climbing up beside her.

His nearness overwhelming her, Donna turned from him and crawled over the strange material hesitantly, then sat down and wrapped her arms around her knees. Their 'bed' was draped with blankets in a tapestry of color, that were surprising soft considering the platform itself looked to be hewn out of the same rock as the rest of this strange cave dungeon.

"There now," Jack soothed, coming to sit beside her, "nothing we can't handle."

His arms came around her shoulders without hesitation and Donna let him hold her against the solid wall of his chest, telling herself not to be surprised at how familiar he was being – that was what they were there for, after all.

"You've done this lark before then?" She tried her best to keep her voice casual, to match his carefully blasé attitude.

He chuckled drily. "Yeah. Perils of space and time it seems. Randy aliens always want to see other aliens gettin' it on. But the good news is I can get us through this, Donna. If you will just trust me we can get out of here in no time, it will be like it never happened."

"So they are watching then?" she asked dully, plucking at nonexistent threads in the drapes.

A warm hand cupped her cheek and turned her face up to his.

"Don't think about that, Donna, just look at me. As far as we know, we're alone, and it's better to just go with that, okay?"

His voice was authoritative, even commanding, and whereas in other circumstances Donna would never have stood for that, now she found herself immediately appreciating his warm and no-nonsense manner. If she was being honest with herself, she had been warming to him more and more, much to the Doctor's chagrin. Once she realized Jack's advances would only go so far and no further without her permission, she had felt freer to flirt and simply enjoy the banter and teasing.

The moment he had stepped between her and the soldiers who were trying to take her shoes something in her heart had changed. She realized then he was one of those rare people who would put himself in harm's way for another – the kind of friend Donna had known only rarely, so now she could accept his leading, and allow herself a twinge of regret that she couldn't accept all he wanted from her – but she belonged with the Doctor, that would never change.

His hand drifted to her knee, bringing their current reality sharply back into focus. Donna cleared her throat.

"You have a plan then, Captain?" She stared at his hand as it softly caressed her leg over her skirt.

"Yup."

She blinked. "How?" Could it be true? She found herself clinging to his self-assured words like a lifeline.

"Sometimes it's easier to let the girl be in charge. I can just be here, you can be completely in control. If you like, I can just lie back and you can take over." As he spoke he lifted his hand from her knee and lounged back against the pillows, his eyes on hers.

"Oh." She looked him up and down. "Um…"

He cocked an eyebrow and smiled at her.

She frowned. Whatever plan she had been hoping to hear – that was not it. She preferred one where the Doctor came blazing through the door brandishing his sonic screwdriver and sporting his best "hah!" grin, saving them in the nick of time.

"Pretend I am anyone you like." He added, as a slightly-too-casual afterthought and Donna looked at him sharply.

As the silence stretched between them Jack slowly sat up again, moving until he was right in front of her. He waited patiently, his strong hands rubbing her shoulders now.

She took a breath. "Blimey. I…I can see why that would make it easier in a way, but I don't think I could, Jack, I—"

Her voice had started to waver and his hand began smoothing circles on her back, authoritative pressure but not unkind. She didn't know how to finish her sentence and her jaw clenched as she felt the telltale pinprick of tears threaten. Gritting her teeth, Donna told herself she would not cry and embarrass herself.

"Donna?" His voice had dropped to a low rumble and he lifted his hand to her cheek again, the pad of his thumb brushing lightly along her cheekbone. "If you like, I can lead instead of you. I'll keep it simple, just the basics, okay?"

From the tone of his voice Donna realized he already knew which option she would choose. She wondered if his presentation of the idea of her being the one in charge was just to bring her to acquiesce to the alternative all the faster. Well, she couldn't blame him, after all, hadn't she chosen him because he had said he knew how to handle this, and get them out of here sooner?

She pressed her lips together and nodded. Then she glanced toward the door, willing it to open, and strained her ears for the telltale vworp of the magically materializing TARDIS. Nothing.

Well, alright then.

When she felt she could trust herself to speak without the traitorous tears filling her eyes Donna took a breath. "What do you need me to do?"

"Well…" Jack looked at her, his eyes kind and thoughtful. "I can do everything, I just need you to do one thing, Donna, I need you to relax."

They looked at each other for a moment. "Yeah," she murmured.

He started to lay her back on the platform and Donna felt her skin prickle with apprehension.

She reached out before she knew what she was doing and gripped his arm. He stopped moving except to tilt his head to the side and look at her intently.

"Jack. Can we… can you wait? Please? I just need a… a moment?"

She hated the plaintive turn in her voice, and from the way his expression softened, she knew her eyes were pleading with him too.

"Of course. Of course we can, Donna, love. Whenever you are ready." His eyes were warm as he looked at her and his hand came up to cover hers very lightly where she was still gripping his arm.

She swallowed and dropped her eyes. Then she sat up straight then lowered her head, gulping down deep breaths.

_Okay. This is not a choice. You have to do this. Then it will be done and you will go on and everything will be all right. You can make it through. But it b__**is**__/b going to happen._

Jack moved away from her slightly and she realized he was quickly undressing from the waist down. Donna felt her cheeks grow hot and looked away. She heard the sounds of his trousers and underwear falling to the floor as Jack kicked them off then crawled back toward her, Donna could feel the blankets dip as he moved beside her again.

"All right?"

She nodded, and risked a quick glance at him. He wasn't hiding himself from her and he was more than ready, she saw. Feeling more than a little overwhelmed, Donna averted her eyes once again.

"Let's get you lying down," he suggested casually. "Then we'll be all set and I can get… well a little ahead of the game, if you like, make it easier."

She looked back at him, confused by his words.

He grimaced slightly as he continued. "It won't exactly be the most romantic thing you have ever seen but I'll get myself ready before I.." he gestured toward her, "that will make it quick, okay?"

"Oh," she breathed. Not sure if she really understood, but fairly certain that she didn't want to.

"If you lie down, you won't have to see, if you don't want to."

Donna's mouth was suddenly dry. "Are you going to… you mean you are going to do other things before you… go inside me?"

"I'll touch myself, yes. So I won't have to be inside you for long. Plus it will help with lubrication as we don't have anything and I'm guessing you aren't exactly aroused right now."

She stared at him for a moment; the unreality of this situation seemed to be getting worse, not better.

"Bloomin' 'eck," she muttered.

He cocked his head and gave her a trademark grin that quickly faded to a warm smile, the corners of his eyes crinkling with understanding.

Donna closed her eyes. She was grateful for Jack's forthrightness, she really was, but she couldn't forget the haunted look in the Doctor's eyes as they had been led away from him. Why she couldn't get him out of her head she had no idea, she had enough to worry about as it was, but somehow every time she closed her eyes, she saw the Doctor.

What had she done? The Doctor was forever warning Jack away from her, and being territorial – Donna had to assume he was always like that when Jack was around, why else he would get all edgy sometimes she didn't have a clue, it's not like she was about to run off with the captain and leave the Doctor.

Except she kinda had. But what choice had they been given? What if he never forgave her?

"Are you thinking about him?" Jack asked her softly and she nodded. She opened her eyes again and was surprised to see a pained expression on his face. Donna felt guilt wash over her and she reached out for the man beside her, keeping her hand carefully away from his brazenly nude bottom half.

"But it's better this way, you were right, Jack."

He looked like he didn't believe her but he accepted her touch on his arm with gentle stroking of the back of her hand. Donna continued, wanting to take the guilt away from Jack's expression.

"If it were the Doctor we'd both be basketcases and it would be this huge thing."

His lips twitched. "You saying my thing isn't as huge as his then?"

"Jack!"

He grinned irrepressibly and she smiled back, the first genuine smile she had been able to muster since they had been taken away from the Doctor.

His voice dropped lower again. "It's going to be okay, Donna." He shuffled closer to her and pressed his lips to her cheek. She leaned into him a little and sighed as he enveloped her in a hug.

"Sorry," she mumbled against his chest eventually.

"What for?"

"Being so daft."

He tsked and Donna could feel the shake of his head as his arms tightened around her. "No need to be sorry. Just takes a bit of getting used to that's all."

She made a noncommittal noise in response and pulled back a little to look up at him. His features were carefully composed in a confident grin when she met his eyes, like this was all normal, like they weren't about to shag for the viewing pleasure of a bunch of skeevy aliens.

"Ready?" He tilted his head in question, and she nodded quickly, determined to be caught up in Jack's façade of normalcy.

"All right now, just lie back, that's it."

7


	2. Chapter 2

**Warning: not dubcon but has that shag or die dubcon feel.**

**Chapter Two**

His hands on her body were as assertive as his smile. Jack was sure of himself, but not without gentleness as he moved under her skirt. Donna flinched, suddenly everything was happening quickly. Strong hands were drawing down her underwear and the smallest whimper escaped her lips when he discarded her knickers completely.

Jack responded with a soft shushing noise and a warm hand closing over hers. It was probably the most tender she had ever seen him.

"It's all right, I'm taking care of this, not much longer now and we'll be out of here."

He moved lower on the platform bed and rearranged the blankets so that they were cocooned. Then he rucked up her skirt around her thighs and placed a gentle hand on her bare knee.

Donna pushed her skirt back down over her knees, she couldn't help it, she felt exposed enough as it was. Jack cleared his throat quietly. Ignoring the uncomfortable squirmy feeling in the pit of her stomach, Donna slowly parted her knees for him as he positioned himself between her legs.

His hand stayed on her knee. She squeezed her eyes closed as the unmistakable sound of what he was doing to himself with his other hand floated to her ears. It was scant moments later when his hand drifted down from her knee to graze her inner thigh. She tensed further.

"Donna? I meant what I said, love, I need you to relax for me, please. I don't want to hurt you."

She could hear the strain in his voice now, even as he continued to rhythmically stroke himself.

"I'm trying," she managed. Her mind suddenly taunted her with a horrifying thought: what if the Doctor was among the hidden spectators? Was he watching them? Listening? She felt instantly convinced the Doctor was more than watching, it felt like he was in the room with her, she could almost sense him.

Overcome, Donna lifted her hands to her head, her heartbeat thudded loudly in her ears, almost drowning out the sighs the man hovering above her was making as his arousal increased. He moved over her and dropped a light kiss on her cheek, but Donna kept her eyes firmly closed.

She shifted underneath him, unable to bear the waiting any longer. She felt his breath on her face as he leaned in closer and her hand worked its way to his chest. He was so solid, his body so warm, his lips gentle as he pressed them to her forehead before working his way down her face to her mouth.

She stopped breathing, stopped moving, panic descending on her like a freight train, a crushing weight on her chest. _The Doctor,_ her mind supplied frantically. It felt like he was all around her. Willing herself not to lose control, Donna sought to take Jack's advice and imagine how it would it feel if it were the Doctor in Jack's place.

His lips stopped short of claiming her lips, mouthing her cheek delicately instead. So gentle, he was holding his breath as much as she was. Donna squeezed her eyes closed tighter. If the Doctor was here he would just as tentative, just as tender, and despite herself she turned her face slightly towards him, a small moan of lightheaded confusion escaping her lips.

In response she heard a more guttural moan, low, almost a growl. Donna gasped for a much-needed breath as possessive kisses moved along the line of her jaw and began a hungry dance down her throat. She swallowed convulsively as her mind pictured the Doctor hovering above her, imagined it was his hand slowly inching under her blouse, his soft lips lingering just below her earlobe. Would the Doctor ever kiss her like that? Just trying to picture him in Jack's place was enough of a distraction from the paralyzing fear to allow her to breathe again.

Very carefully, Donna lifted her hand to brush lightly through the man's hair as he lost himself doing ticklish and incredible things to the delicate skin of her throat and clavicle. Knowing he would no longer be in her line of sight, Donna risked opening her eyes, then immediately regretted it. The feeling of being watched crowded into her mind and she cried out with the pressure of it.

Jack's lips halted their progress and he lifted up a little.

"There now, you are doin' great," he crooned softly and Donna's eyes filled at the gentle understanding in his tone. Or perhaps it was the sight of him, albeit in shadowy profile, very much the Captain and not her Doctor.

Seeing her tears gave Jack pause as he hovered over her and even in the dim light she could see concern crease his features.

He sat up a little and Donna drew in a long shuddery breath. She watched him, blood still pulsing loudly in her ears. Her mind was still on the man she had left behind scant minutes earlier and yet now felt like he was in the room with them.

"Why do I feel like we're in a threesome?" Jack's whisper was conspiratorial and the wink he gave her indicated no concern at such an idea.

Donna opened her mouth to deny what she supposed he meant but then closed it again when she could find no words to refute the notion.

"Don't suppose you have some Time Lord mind mojo with him you two aren't tellin' me about, do ya?" His tone was still light, if anything Jack looked as if the idea merely intrigued him.

Donna shook her head. "No. He's where we left him, body and mind, he's… probably upset but he's not here." _Just in my imagination,_ she didn't add. Donna didn't know how she knew for sure, but whatever tricks her mind was playing on her, she felt the Doctor's absence keenly.

"I have an idea," Jack whispered after a moment, quiet but confident.

Jack's hand slowly smoothed down her leg, stroking, reassuring and taking charge. Was he going to…? Donna's stomach flipped again and her mouth went dry, her lips parted and she tried to say something but nothing came. She was less sure with every passing second that she had made the right choice despite all the trouble they would be in if she'd gone with the Doctor – that was, if he would ever have agreed to it – her sense of his nearness evaporated as a cold voice inside her head assured her a Time Lord would never stoop to such a dalliance with a human, least of all Donna Noble. Who did she think she was anyway? She frowned and did her best to ignore the same cynical wisdom that had followed her all her life, echoing as her mother's scoldings even as she slammed the door closed on those memories just as she used to slam the front door closed on her house as she ran out to another date with some local boy her mother disapproved of.

Would the Doctor ever forgive her? Would he remember she was doing this to save all their lives?

Strong and sure hands massaged her inner thighs now. Another traitorous voice in her mind whispered that it was too late – that if she tried to stop him at this stage, Jack might just push through with it anyway – he'd be saving their lives so she couldn't even fault him… A deep chill ran through her and she tensed further under his hands.

Fortunately this dark line of thought was swiftly cut off before she could frighten herself any further when Jack lifted his body back from hers and suddenly she could breathe again.

"Donna?"

For a moment his voice sounded almost like the Doctor. She blinked furiously against tears that smarted her eyes and blurred her vision so much she could no longer see him.

"I'm going to try something, Donna, we'll just take our time, okay?" His voice was full of warmth. He disappeared from sight and Donna gulped down air.

She didn't have to wonder long where he had gone to; Jack's lips replaced his hand on her leg and suddenly he was kissing her inner thigh. Donna yelped in surprise. His teeth nipped at her skin with infinite care not to actually hurt her, and his tongue darted out, exploring and tasting her mere inches from her sex. At the same time, his fingers worked into the muscles all around the underside of her thighs, moving in time with his tongue and lips.

He uttered an appreciative moan, which Donna answered with an involuntary squeak.

"Just relax, love, so reason why we can't have a little fun now, is there? Tell you what, I'm just going to make you feel good until you tell me you are ready, we'll take all the time you need, gorgeous."

His voice was almost hypnotically calming. His hands caressed her in intimate massage, soothing her tensed muscles, while his tongue played along the delicate skin of her inner thigh; so ticklish it made a mockery of her fright mere seconds before.

Donna covered her face with her hands, embarrassment warring with surprising warmth flooding her nether regions. It felt good. More than good. Guilt welled up inside her and she pressed her palms tighter against her cheeks until found her voice again, gasping out a _"bloody hell!"_ that caused Jack to chuckle.

"Shoulda known you'd be good at this," she sighed, unexpected pleasure mingled with fear was spiking up her spine despite all her misgivings. She shifted her hips away from him as he neared his goal.

Jack raised himself up on his arms, his own arousal bobbing against her other thigh now, causing her to squirm.

"I've had no complaints," he drawled, his irrepressible grin back now as he tipped her a wink and slowly licked his lips, before dipping his head again.

Donna closed her eyes for a moment. Somewhere inside her a part of her wanted to just give herself over to this man – this obviously _talented_ man – who had been nothing other than gentle with her, and wanted no more than to pleasure her and to make this insane experience be a little less uncomfortable. In some ways it would be so easy just to let go, and goodness knows how long it had been since a man had been so attentive to arousing her before taking her.

But that was before. Before she had fallen head over heels for a skinny demented alien bloke whose palpable pain at being separated from her still echoed in her mind. Or was she just imagining his distress? Just wishing?

Wait – wishing? Where had that come from? She twisted her hips a little as Jack found a particularly sensitive spot low on her inner thigh. Was she really so keen to have the Doctor return her feelings? Was she really so far gone that she couldn't let another man touch her even to save them all?

Jack's head moved deeper between her legs as his strong hands lifted her knees further apart. His broad hands held her trembling thighs firmly. And his tongue, oh my word, his tongue was…

"Jack!"

She began to writhe against him, the coiling tension in the pit of her stomach now unbearable. His fingers tightened on her hips in response, stilling her movements, a sensation both frightening and yet so incredibly good Donna couldn't believe she was going to stop him.

But it was the wrong him.

"Jack, I can't."

He stilled.

She was daft. A nutter. A sandwich short of a picnic. And she was giving up their only chance for escape.

Jack lifted his head to regard her and she gazed at him unwaveringly.

"Donna?"

She schooled herself not to apologize even as the words fell from her lips. "I'm sorry, Jack, you've been brilliant, but I can't do this."

She dropped her head back on the pillow and drew in a deep shaky breath, relief flooding her body. When she could find the strength to move again, Donna tried to extricate herself from underneath him but then his hand on her knee stopped her.

"Wait," he ordered, his lips pressing together into a thin line. Donna froze. She met his eyes and recognized the authority in him, the man used to giving commands and being obeyed.

Her stomach clenched with unease as Jack's expression darkened and he remained in place.

Donna's mouth opened, but no words came. What could she really say? What if they were all killed just because of her? Because she was too chicken to go through with this?

The silence stretched between them. His hand on her leg felt heavier than ever. Donna steeled her resolve. Jack was right, they should keep going, she wouldn't fight him, she wouldn't put him through that. Donna tried to make herself speak, to tell him to keep going, she was just being silly.

"You sure you want me to stop?" he whispered and Donna nodded immediately, all thoughts of giving in flying away if he wasn't going to force her. Her eyes searched his, her heartbeat thudding in her ears louder than ever now. She lifted a trembling hand to his chest and he took it in his, his grip strong, causing her stomach to do another slow flip.

Jack seemed about to say something else, but then to Donna's relief, his mouth snapped shut and he sat up, releasing her from his hold.

Her world had been going in slow motion until that moment. Donna released a breath she didn't know she had been holding and closed her eyes as unbidden tears spilled onto her cheeks. Two more deep breaths then she wiped furiously at her face, banishing the tears and pulling herself up from underneath Jack. She glanced his way briefly, the back of her hand brushing away the remaining wetness on her cheeks sheepishly as she pushed down her skirt and quirked her lips in further apology.

He didn't say anything as he pulled his clothes back on and helped Donna retrieve her underwear. His silence unnerved her, but she was surprised to find the strong feeling of relief overriding her guilt or fear of the consequences.

Finally he spoke, his hand on her arm staying her from sliding down from their platform bed. His eyes were hooded and his expression unreadable.

"Did I… was it too much? Did I do something wrong?"

He sounded so wounded that Donna caught her breath. Jack was normally so suave and confident, she hadn't considered that her rejection would impact him at all. It was just her, after all.

"No, it's not you, Jack, really – you were lovely, just perfect actually."

She broke off, unsure of how to explain further.

"Are you in love with him?" he asked bluntly.

Donna swallowed and looked down before lifting her eyes to meet Jack's again. He had been so tender with her, and even now was making no protest, no attempt to pressure her into continuing; she owed him the truth.

"Yeah." It came out as a whisper. "I'm sorry I couldn't have figured that out earlier and saved you having to go through this with me."

He caught her hand. "Donna, there was no "having to" okay? It was my honor."

She blushed and pushed him away, but then caught his hand again. She hadn't realized until just then how relieved she was that he wasn't angry with her and she had a sudden longing to be held by him. He kept on telling her she was beautiful and other ridiculous things, but just then there was a heavy shifting grinding noise as the door to the chamber was opened again and the pair fell silent.

Jack put his arm around Donna's shoulders as they stood together to face their captors. She leaned into him, bracing herself for some very displeased aliens.

7


	3. Chapter 3

**Reposting the first snippet as it slots in here as chapter 3**

The Doctor paced the floor. Back and forth, back and forth. His fellow captives had long since given up trying to make conversation with him, backing away from the look in his eyes like they were afraid he might lop off their tongues if they spoke out of turn.

He blinked rapidly, trying and failing for the umpteenth time to stop the scenes replaying in his head over and over from what his chronometer told him was only 26 minutes ago, but felt like an eternity.

She had looked surprised, and uncertain. He could grant himself her uncertainty. He could not in all good conscience upgrade that to fear. No, at most he could tell she had been uncertain, taken off guard.

Her eyes… but he hadn't been close when the word came down, and she had already been backing up when Jack slid so smoothly into his pitch. The Doctor hadn't wanted to crowd her further, hadn't wanted to do anything to make that look in her eyes (which was uncertainty and not quite fear) be directed at him.

_Coward._ How much had that mistake cost him? Or was it a mistake? Was Jack right? Was it better to let Jack take her, lest the… the thing he was taking her to do cause a lasting awkwardness between the Doctor and his companion?

Jack talked a good game, didn't he always? The bitter venom in his own unuttered words stung the Doctor even as he tried to pretend it was simple chagrin.

He had stopped walking and his hands balled into fists at his side. The condemning silence of the cavernous reception hall was overpowering and soon the Doctor began pacing again just to hear the soft pad of his chucks on the burnished floor.

Jack and Donna were the same species, there was an undeniable attraction, the human man could get it over with quickly, they could move on much easier afterward than if it was the Doctor who took her. If things got weird, Jack had continued, his words flowing easily as his arms snaked around Donna's waist, they could always drop him back in Cardiff whenever they got away from here.

And Jack wanted her. That much was apparent to both men even before Donna's protestations that she wouldn't want some poor bloke to be forced into shagging her had caused Jack to round on her, almost bowling her over in his enthusiasm to reassure her that nothing could be further from the truth. He wanted her.

He wanted her and he told her so. In no uncertain terms. He was quick like that, Captain Jack Harkness. He had told the Doctor once that he considered it cruelty to do otherwise; a woman should know where she stood with you, no use stringing them along until they get hurt.

The Doctor hadn't needed that pep talk; he had sniffed dismissively and pointedly ignored him.

And _he_ had wanted her. And he had not spoken up.

And she had looked at him right before Jack threaded his arm through hers and gently led her away, tri-pedal beings with guns flanking them.

_Twenty-eight minutes now._

It was that last look in her eyes that haunted him the most. Uncertainty, yes, but something more. Regret? Beseeching?

He didn't blame them. Although her acquiescence had come slowly, it had been freely given. It made sense, the only way to freedom, a simple ritual.

With nothing simple about it. How long had it been for her anyway? He pondered that question as he thought about their years together, almost three in Earth terms now. The moment anyone became too interested, even stepped too close, he was there, flitting around her, warning other men (and occasionally women) to stay away. Clear territorial markings. She was his.

Jack knew that. But he had swooped in the moment the demands fell from their captors' lips. Been there before he said, honeyed tones of reassurance as his hand stroked her hair. Didn't have to be a Thing, he promised her. He would make it fun for her.

And the whole time, the flush in her cheeks belying the barbed jokes she traded with him, making lightness of it, a lightness she obviously didn't feel.

The doorway creaked open suddenly and the Doctor's body flooded with adrenaline as he stood taller, tension straightening his spine. As if in slow motion he saw Jack's hand first, holding the door back for the strangely diminutive Donna at his side. They had taken her shoes, the Doctor noted, his mind working at a million miles a minute to process everything before him.

Her socks were gone too, but Jack still wore his boots. His other arm wrapped around her shoulders and then she lifted her head and her eyes met the Doctor's. His stomach clenched.

He realized then that Jack had been very wrong. It had been a mistake to think Donna could do this with Jack instead of the Doctor and have it be _less_ awkward. The guilt in her eyes was overwhelming, and something inside the Doctor cracked.

She broke away from Jack then and headed for the Doctor. He forced his legs to move, meeting her halfway across the cold marble foyer that had been his prison all morning. Her steps faltered and she stopped just before they met in the middle of the room.

He held out his hands to her as he slowly closed the distance between them, watching her face very carefully. She looked at the ground and scrunched her toes.

"Donna," he breathed, wanting to tell her that everything would be all right, that they would get through this, that he was sorry, that he should have spoken up, but they could fix it, they had to, anything, _just please please don't leave me for Jack._

But before he could speak she looked up at him again and the pain in her eyes silenced him.

"I'm sorry," she mouthed. He felt the brokenness inside him split open further but he took her hands in his and pulled her closer until their bodies where inches apart.

"You don't have anything to be sorry about."

Around them tri-pedal troops were amassing and the Doctor squeezed Donna's hands, keeping her attention on him. He didn't know what was going on with the tribespeople now and he frankly didn't care. All that mattered was Donna.

She tilted her head to the side and her eyebrows knitted together.

"Yeah. I do, Doctor." She sounded sheepish, embarrassed but not distressed.

He began to hush her, drawing her gently into his arms. She flattened the palms of her hands on his chest, a token resistance that ceased his movements to hold her. He looked down at her instead, his hearts hammering – did she not even want him to hold her now?

"Doctor, I…"

He spoke over her, anxious to drown out what he felt for sure was an impending rejection. "It's all right, Donna, we will get you home, and we'll sort this—"

"I couldn't do it," she blurted out. Then she dropped her head on his chest and banged her forehead against his sternum a few times for good measure.

At her words, his mouth went dry and his brain seemed to have stopped working entirely. Automatically the Doctor's arms came around her shoulders, stilling her movements and smoothing down her hair.

He swallowed convulsively a few times before he managed to speak again. _"What?"_

Jack came closer then, he'd been hovering on the edges of the Doctor's peripheral vision and when the two men looked at each other, the human shook his head. There was tension around his eyes, the Doctor noticed.

Donna mumbled against his chest. "I'm sorry, I know, it was supposed to be no big deal. And it wasn't, and then it was, and I'm sorry cause now we're stuck here."

Her words tumbled out somewhere in the vicinity of his tie and not even knowing what he was doing, the Doctor chuckled. It was like a huge weight had been lifted from him.

"We'll figure it out, Donna, don't worry, and stop apologizing." He held up a finger to the approaching man and hushed him too. "Ah! You too, Jack, no more being sorry, we'll get out of this some other way, you'll see!"

He grinned at the other man and held out his hand to him, pulling him into a hug until Donna grunted slightly from being trapped in between the two of them. They pulled back and the Doctor was gratified to see the two of them looking much less tense now, even smiling slightly as the indignant guards led them all away.

The Doctor kept a firm arm around his companion this time. He found he couldn't wait to be in a jail cell with her again. They had some talking to do.

5


	4. Chapter 4

**Warning: not dubcon but has that shag or die dubcon feel.**

**Please consider leaving a comment if you are reading, it means the world to me.**

They never made it to a jail cell. Instead they were led through long winding tunnels along with their fellow prisoners, who kept a quietly watchful eye on the Doctor, seemingly more afraid of him than the soldiers. The Doctor held onto Donna all the way, Jack at her other side. Unexpectedly the corridor ended, and they were escorted without ceremony into the middle of a field.

Blinking in the late afternoon sunlight, Jack turned toward their retreating captors and opened his mouth to shout after them when he felt the Doctor's arm heavy on his arm.

"Right. Gifthorse. Mouth. Shut it. Yes sir!"

Flipping the Doctor a jaunty salute Jack spun around to Donna, ducking his head to catch her eye. She was squinting too, staying close to the Doctor, not that she could have got away, Jack observed, his hand on hers was clenched tight. Together they watched as the other captives dispersed, running fast, only the faintest of whoops and hollers drifting back to the three who remained standing in the middle of the field.

There was a moment of quiet then Donna ventured, "what just happened?"

She looked at Jack who shrugged in response.

"I mean… shouldn't we be in a jail cell right about now? Or worse?" she tried again.

"Not if they think we fulfilled their terms," Jack said quietly and the Doctor shifted abruptly, scratching his chin and rubbing at his eyes before scrunching up his features.

"But we didn't—" Donna began then promptly swallowed the rest of her sentence as both men hushed her hastily.

"Right then!" The Doctor bounced while still somehow managing to keep ahold of Donna's hand. "Not the time or the place to be having this conversation! Villagers went south. Back home I should imagine. Excellent idea, shall we?"

He raised an eyebrow at Jack and the Captain grinned easily in return. The tension was lifted for now, although Jack suspected it was merely in abeyance until the Doctor got Donna back to the safety of the TARDIS.

"If they are heading to the village then the TARDIS is due north of their direction," the Doctor announced, and took off so briskly Donna was almost jogging to keep up with them.

It wasn't long before the blue of the TARDIS was visible in the copse of trees just over the hill and all three broke into a run, crashing through the doors. Jack gave a whoop as the Doctor rushed to the controls, the adrenaline still pumping through his system.

The Captain stepped closer to Donna, catching her as the TARDIS lurched around them, then letting her go again when he caught the Doctor's glare. Donna drove him crazy, drove them both crazy if the look in the Doctor's eyes was anything to go by, and Jack had been thoroughly enjoying that dynamic up until a few hours ago. He'd at least half-believed the pair with their frequent protestations of not being romantically involved, well, he had _wanted_ to believe it anyway. But after the cave… not even Jack could go along with that pretense any longer.

And Donna – Donna had admitted her feelings. That worried Jack, he knew she had been upset about what they had been asked to do, but he hadn't expected her level of distress to increase as it had done – usually in those circumstances the tension evaporated once things got underway, he prided himself on his skills in setting women at ease, but try as he might, he had failed to get Donna to relax.

Jack was worried what would happen if she told the Doctor what had passed between them, and how angry the Doctor would be with him. Would he be turfed out the door again? Might be time to beat a hasty retreat before it came to that.

The TARDIS happily spinning in the vortex now, Jack watched as the Doctor sidled over to where Donna was still trying to catch her breath. He watched as the Time Lord came to stand at her side and watched as Donna's body stilled, even her breathing stopped as the Doctor slid his hand down her arm and interlaced their fingers together.

Jack coughed lightly. These two could make simple hand-holding ratchet up the temperature in the room and a grown man blush with the looks they were giving each other.

"I'll just go put the kettle on then," he mumbled, and quickly departed for his room, knowing they hadn't even heard him go.

He paused in the doorway to the console room and took one last glance back. His heart twisted to see the depth of emotion pass between them as Donna moved her hand to rest on one of the Doctor's hearts, barely any distance between their bodies now as his long fingers caressed her cheek and his head inclined toward hers.

Then Jack walked away.

"Hey there Space Girl. Doin' okay?"

Donna looked up at him from her usual spot on the couch in the TARDIS' library and scrunched up her face at the same time Jack did. "Nah, doesn't work when I call you that, does it? It has to be him."

She gave Jack a chagrinned half-smile then shrugged. "Yeah."

"Yeah," Jack echoed. They looked at each other for a moment then Donna shifted over unnecessarily and patted the space beside where she was sitting. Hesitating for just as long as it took to glance over his shoulder and kick the door closed behind him, Jack joined her on the sofa and together they stared at the crackling fire.

"You're in your nightgown," he said, after a time. The silence that had fallen between them hadn't been tense exactly, but Jack wanted… no he _needed_ to know things were okay between them.

"I felt so tired, went to bed, but then I couldn't sleep," she trailed off and stole a glance at him. "You?"

"Nah, can't sleep either. Long day though." He looked at her sidelong, trying to gauge if she was open to talking. She only nodded in response. Jack decided to keep trying.

"So how long is he going to be fiddling about under the console then?"

"I guess til the TARDIS gives up and lets him fly you home. Maybe she likes you, Captain, wants to keep you around."

"Hmmm, maybe. Or maybe I have unfinished business here." He looked at her directly.

"You don't have to go, y'know," she spoke quietly and brushed her fingers against his.

He smiled. "I think I should scarper before a certain Time Lord knocks my block off for having a go with his woman—"

"I'm not his woman!"

Jack didn't bother to dignify that with a response, he just raised an eyebrow at her and Donna batted at him.

Seizing the opportunity, knowing they may not be alone again, Jack grabbed her hand as she waved it in his direction and turned them so they were facing each other.

Donna tensed up immediately – just like she had been around him all night since their return, flinching if he got too close. Yep, Jack thought to himself, they definitely needed to have this conversation.

"I wanna talk about what happened on the planet, Donna."

Her eyes widened and she ceased her half-hearted attempts to withdraw her hand from his grasp. "Jack, I… I am so sorry, I put you in such an awful position and you were so kind… I—" Flustered now, Donna waved her free hand in the air and tried to shift away from him.

"Shh, Donna, no no no." She had got into such a state so quickly Jack could tell she had been keeping her feelings just below the surface.

He shifted on the couch so he was no longer facing her then moved an arm around her shoulders, concerned at her obvious distress and the undertones of fear in her voice.

"No, Donna love, you didn't do anything wrong. You were very brave."

She made a dismissive noise at that.

Jack rubbed her shoulder and waited a few moments before speaking again, keeping his voice even. "I was wondering, did the Doctor ask you what happened between us?"

Donna took a breath, and set her shoulders, before trying to find an answer.

"Sort of. I mean, I knew that he wanted to, he danced around the subject a bit and he's been asking me all day if I am okay. So I just… I said that you were the perfect gentleman, don't worry."

She glanced up and gave him a small, rueful smile, which Jack returned.

After a moment she continued, "and I told him… well, that we didn't get near to having…well, anything really but just that you tried some different things to get me to relax and I couldn't – but that it wasn't your fault."

She stopped but Jack could tell she had more to say so he simply waited.

"And he asked me some things, I think he needed to… just reassure himself or something, but he asked me if you hurt me and I said no, of course not; you were very gentle and respectful the whole time."

Her last sentence came out in a rush, her embarrassment palpable. Jack breathed a sigh of relief. He was grateful that Donna seemed to understand he was worried what the Doctor would think about what had happened between the two of them, but he had other concerns too. He smoothed his hand over her shoulder again, gently kneading the tense muscles there while Donna keep talking.

"…So I don't think he's going to come knock your block off anytime soon, Captain." She finished, quirking her lips at him, her eyes shining with understanding.

"Yeah, well, thanks – you know. Cause when it comes to you…I've never seen him like that before, I mean he was possessive of Rose and Martha too, but this time, I dunno, felt more personal. More at stake for him. Very territorial."

Donna shrugged a little and looked down at her hands, fidgeting. Jack wondered if she was uncomfortable because he had mentioned Rose, or if it was the obvious depth of the Doctor's feelings for her.

"Donna, can I ask you something else?"

She nodded, looking up at him. Jack searched her eyes before plunging ahead with his question.

"Were you frightened I wasn't going to stop when you asked?"

Her whole body went rigid. She dropped her eyes again and chewed on her lip, it was all the answer he needed.

"Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. Donna, I need to explain, okay?"

She nodded mutely.

Jack spoke again. "When you wanted to stop, all I was going to suggest was that maybe we try faking it, sometimes that works, and I guess it did here without us even needing to do anything more, so it's all good, okay?"

She hunched her shoulders and silence fell between them before she spoke again, her voice uncertain. "We got lucky. With them thinking…well whatever they thought sex was, I guess." She looked up at him, her blue eyes piercing his. "Why didn't you suggest it then? Faking it, I mean?"

"Because I think it would have been a bit much, I think you were too upset, Donna, I don't think you could have gone through with even a bit of pretend bump 'n grind."

"That's worked for you before?" Her cheeks were flushed, her eyebrows drawing together at even the thought of it, her voice barely a whisper; Jack knew now he'd been right at how unnerved he had made her.

"It has, actually, randy aliens often don't have a clue how other species reproduce… Donna?"

She lifted her eyes to his.

"I'm sorry I scared you. I should have stopped sooner, shouldn't have pushed, I could tell you were…unhappy."

"S'alright," she mumbled.

They looked at each other for a few beats. Jack wanted to say more, to reassure her he would never have taken her against her will, that she would always be safe with him, but the truth—the truth he strongly suspected she has seen in his eyes back in the dungeon—was that Jack had lived too long to believe there was anything that was off limits when it came to protecting his friends.

"Really, it's alright, I'm alright, always a'right, me." She tilted her head to one side and her hair fell down over his hand where it rested on her shoulder. Her bare shoulder, he hadn't failed to notice, her nightdress having slid down her arm (with a bit of encouragement by him).

The firelight flickered invitingly on her pale skin. Jack felt a pang of regret and he swallowed it down quickly, but when he glanced at her face again her mouth was slightly open and he imagined he wasn't the only one wondering 'what if' right about then.

Jack had also lived too long to let moments like this one pass him by.

He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers, tasting her softness and lingering in a kiss he knew they would both remember. Then he drew back and ghosted a finger over her lips before she could say anything else.

The two of them stared at the fire for a while, until Donna sighed faintly and shuffled closer to him. She rested her head against Jack's chest as his arms went around her securely.

He breathed in relief, glad they had had this conversation, much as she had kept saying she was all right, she seemed much more comfortable with him now. He pulled her close and she snuggled into him with a yawn. Jack reached out for a cushion and pillowed it across his thighs. Donna hesitated for a moment then nestled on his lap, her eyes already closing as Jack draped an arm around her, the fingers of his other hand playing gently with her hair as he allowed himself to relax back into the couch.

He stroked her hair away from her face, marveling at how beautiful she looked in the glow of the embers from the fireplace. The Doctor was a lucky man, he mused, and if their adventures today had finally pushed these two together, Jack better get to be best man at the wedding. He tipped his head back and drifted toward sleep, a soft smile on his lips.

7


	5. Chapter 5

**This chapter dedicated to Tardis-Mole. Unending gratitude to kgriess for proofing. **

The door burst open and Jack awoke with a start. Instinctively his arms tightened around the woman in his lap and he blinked a few times as the Doctor charged toward them.

"Where is she? What are you doing?"

"Nothing! Doctor, calm down, what's going on?"

The Doctor crashed to his knees on the floor beside where Donna slept on in Jack's lap. Jack thought it was nothing short of a miracle that the commotion hadn't woken her yet.

"Shh," he admonished the Doctor, wondering what had happened to panic him to this extent.

As Jack watched, the Time Lord leaned over Donna and brought his face so close to hers he almost looked like he was about to kiss her. Instead, and even more disturbingly, the Doctor ran his tongue along the exposed curve of her throat.

Jack's blood ran cold for a moment as he struggled to process what he was seeing. Everything he knew about the Doctor told him this wasn't what it looked like... Could he be possessed? Had something happened between them when Jack left them alone in the console room earlier?

Donna moaned in her sleep and squirmed on Jack's lap. It was enough to break the captain's paralysis and he shoved the Doctor away, cradling Donna protectively.

"Doctor, what the hell do you think you are doing?"

The Time Lord gave him a look of such pompous disdain that only the Doctor could affect.

"Don't give me that look, Doctor! I'm not the one who just tried to molest my friend while she was sleeping!"

The Doctor sniffed and gave Jack another look that somehow managed to convey even more scorn.

"She's drugged," he said shortly.

"Oh."

Somehow that news didn't help Jack feel any better. "But...how, I was with her the whole time, she didn't eat or drink anything, it couldn't have been in the air or it would have affected me too...are you going to lick me too?"

The Doctor ignored him, resting his fingertips against Donna's temple and closing his eyes. Jack fell silent and watched as the Doctor seemed to go into a trance. Moments later he slowly opened his eyes and moving his fingers to stroke Donna's hair with such reverence Jack abandoned his notional theory that the man was possessed.

Then the Doctor continued talking as if there had been no pause.

"Given their intentions, I suspect it was something to make her more compliant. I can't tell exactly what they've given her, the chemistry is too alien, something tricyclic, or opiates, a touch of barbiturates – which is very bad news because the central nervous system depressive properties will build up exponentially, not linearly—"

His speech had been getting faster and faster until he broke off mid-sentence and jumped to his feet, hitting the heel of his hand against his forehead.

"_Think think think…"_

He twirled around and slammed the palm of his hand against the wall, seemingly unaware of Jack's presence anymore, the speed of his words escalating again as the pitch of his voice rose with mounting panic.

"…and if combined with benzodiazepines significantly increases the likelihood for severe toxicity—"

He frowned and rubbed the bridge of his nose violently before turning back to where Jack still held Donna to his chest. The Doctor sank to his knees again beside them.

"Doctor, how did you know…I mean, you just worked this out?"

"Symptoms!" He clasped his hand firmly around Donna's arm, the tendons in his neck standing out as he recited medical terminology under his breath. "Sleepiness, hypotension, hypoventilation… something wasn't right with her when we got back to the TARDIS but I dismissed it – thought it was because of what she had been through."

"And then?" Jack prompted.

"TARDIS. I asked her to monitor Donna, let me know if her vitals changed…can't tell if motor functions are impaired, dizziness – Jack, was she dizzy? Off balance? Muscle weakness?"

Jack was slowly shaking his head, cold fear creeping up his spine to see the Doctor so distraught.

"Impaired or absent reflexes? Fainting? Pin point pupils?"

He whipped out his sonic screwdriver and tried to open Donna's eyes but she batted him away in her sleep with a distinctly Donna-sounding grumble.

Momentarily abashed, the Doctor rocked back on his heels. Then he turned his attention back to Jack.

"Think, Captain! What did they do to her?"

"Nothing! I didn't let them touch her!"

They both looked down at Donna now sleeping peacefully between them.

"What did you do - with the mind mojo, I mean?" Jack asked cautiously.

"I just made sure she is only in a deep sleep not...anything more dangerous and not...trapped in her mind."

Jack held his breath, his hold on Donna tightening again until he felt the Doctor's hand on his arm.

"She's all right, Jack, she's not distressed, we could wake her if we tried hard enough but for now she's okay."

Jack nodded in relief as the Doctor kept talking.

"I need you to think- did she act unusually? At any time in the last day?"

"Well, she certainly wasn't compliant," Jack mused, glancing sidelong at the Doctor as he said it, seeing something indescribable in the man's expression. "Nervous though, more than I would have thought, but not compliant.

"Unless you count right before she fell asleep," he added thoughtfully, seeing the look on the other man's face change to something like panic.

"Jack - you mean just now? Here?"

"I thought she was just able to relax and trust me, we talked a little bit about what happened, that's all, Doctor, just talked, and she was still tense, and then we—uh, hugged and the next thing I knew she fell asleep."

"What you talked about, did she seem lucid? Suggestible?"

He tried to think, but worry for Donna obscured his thoughts. "I wouldn't say suggestible - I mean, I know a fair bit about sedative-hypnotics, took a long time to get the retcon formula right - she was lucid, just more subdued maybe? But then that might've just been that what we were talking about… well, wasn't easy for her."

The Doctor's eyes narrowed. "What were you talking about?"

"Just what happened, on the planet. Clearing up misunderstanding. But it doesn't make sense, why drug her then release us?" Jack was keen to not have the Doctor dwell on the idea that Donna had been upset from earlier.

"This might not have been as over as we thought. It may have taken longer than they estimated to affect her, or it may be the case that they wanted you to demonstrate…" The Doctor paused and rolled his hand a few times in a vague gesture, a deeply disturbed expression on his face. "…So that they could come along later and try it for themselves."

The darkness in the Doctor's eyes sent a shiver down Jack's spine despite the glow of the dying fire in the library.

"Then why did they let us go?" He hoped he could get the Doctor's mind on track from whatever images he seemed to be currently torturing himself with.

"Probably because they thought we would go back to the village, where we'd be easily findable? At this time of year no one would survive long in the forest. I don't know, Captain." He ran his hand through his hair a few times.

"But we didn't. We escaped in our handy time and space traveling blue box, so we're safe, Doctor, she's safe. We'll take care of her."

The two men looked at each other for a moment, the Doctor's dark eyes locked on Jack's face.

"We need to find out what chemicals they used."

"What kind are you thinking, Doctor?" Best to keep him focused on the problem at hand, Jack reasoned.

"The bad kind." The Doctor trailed his fingertips alongside Donna's temple again, his eyes on her again. "She's sleeping, deeply, peacefully, but not comatose, I'll need to get her to the infirmary to be sure though."

He held out his arms for her.

"I got her," Jack responded curtly, still a little hurt at the accusation in the Doctor's eyes when he mentioned Donna had been talking with him about what happened. Mentally Jack swallowed down a grumble about how he hadn't even slept with her but was getting all of the fall out and none of the good stuff to begin with.

He gathered up the sleeping woman in his arms and stood up. Reluctantly, the Doctor stepped back, his watchful eyes still on Donna as Jack carried her carefully from the room.

5


	6. Chapter 6

Innumerable medical tests later and the best the two men could work out was that Donna had low levels of something in her system that was chemically similar to sleep medication. The Doctor's frantic running around from one diagnostic whatsit to another had finally calmed to more of a buzzing about, with frequent stops at Donna's bedside to touch his fingertips to her cheek or fret over whether she had too few blankets or too many.

She slept on, oblivious to his fussing, freckles standing out on her too pale face, her hair startlingly vibrant against the crisp white pillow.

Jack tore his eyes away from her and sank down into a chair as he ran a hand over his face. Now that the immediate danger seemed under control he was torturing himself with other thoughts. He knew enough about the chemistry of sedative-hypnotics (he wasn't going to think about how many chickens Torchwood retconned into oblivion before they balanced the pharmacology) to know that even if Donna emerged from this in perfect physical health, there were…other potential problems; problems that plagued his mind as took to his feet again and paced the infirmary floor.

The Doctor kept glancing his way. "What is it, Jack?" he asked finally as the other man slumped back into the chair beside Donna's medical bed.

"You said something about benzos, before, could they… well, sometimes that messes with people's recollection of what happened before they took them, right?"

As he spoke Jack didn't look to the Doctor, scooting his chair closer to Donna instead.

"Benzodiazepines affect cognition, and that includes consolidation of new memories, yes. Visuo-spatial memories are particularly vulnerable. If the chemicals were closer to barbiturates she could be dealing with full-blown anterograde amnesia."

The Doctor's tone was deliberately careful as he enunciated the next words. "Why do you ask?"

Jack swallowed thickly. "Visual-spatial? Like what she felt and saw?" He reached out and took Donna's limp hand in his.

The Doctor sniffed. "That has more to do with long-term use. The levels are low, Jack, it probably won't affect her memory, and if it did it would only affect her recall for the time she was drugged, possibly a little time beforehand."

"Probably?"

"Hopefully."

Jack ran a hand over his face and tried not to think about what could happen if Donna woke up with only a fragmentary recollection of what happened between them in the dungeon.

The Doctor was still looking at him, his eyes very dark. "I would have thought you'd be happy to have her forget today, Jack."

He pulled up a chair beside him and opened his mouth to say something else. Jack sat up straight; he knew what was coming.

"What happened between you two, on the planet?"

Jack looked at him for a long moment then chose his words carefully. "I was under the impression she already talked to you about it."

The Doctor's eyebrow rose.

"Doctor…the way she feels about you…she could never have gone through with it."

That derailed him for a moment. Jack watched the Time Lord's eyes lose focus slightly.

"She stopped you because of me?"

"She stopped things because of you." Jack confirmed, taking the opportunity to change the Doctor's wording to remind him it wasn't the Captain's doing that had put Donna in that situation. The two men had come so far in their friendship these last few weeks traveling together, Jack wanted to avoid assuming the bad role in his friend's eyes.

He reached out and placed a hand on the Doctor's arm. He looked down at it then directly at Jack, a warmth in his eyes now.

"She said… you were gentle, respectful…" The Doctor ghosted his hand over Jack's for a fleeting moment, an acknowledgement of his touch.

Jack nodded in confirmation of the Time Lord's words and squeezed his arm supportively.

"So why are you worried about what she will remember?" the Doctor pressed.

Jack sighed. "She didn't stop me immediately, she really tried to go along with things. So what if she remembers only snatches of that feeling? The coercion of the situation in combination with my hands on her?" _Her fear that I wouldn't stop when she asked._ he neglected to add, but the tone of his voice gave him away that there was more he wasn't saying if the look in the Doctor's eye was anything to go by.

The Doctor opened his mouth to speak again but just then they were interrupted by an alarming beep from the monitors. Jack jumped and the Doctor leapt to his feet, his chair skittering away behind him.

"What the…no, it can't be—"

The Doctor's sharp intake of breath caused Jack to rise to his feet shakily.

"What is it, is she okay?"

The Doctor gave him a black look. "The levels of sedative in her bloodstream are increasing."

"What? But that doesn't make sense, her body should be getting rid of it by now!"

"She's metabolizing it, but she's still being exposed – it's the only explanation, it's all throughout her system now." The Doctor ran his hand through his hair and stared down at Donna, still sleeping apparently peacefully on the medical bed. His eyes were wide and Jack could see the panic building in them.

"Doctor—" But the Time Lord was off again, checking and rechecking all his instruments, running more tests. Jack stood at Donna's side, stroking her hair and holding her hand while the Doctor flitted around them, fear radiating off him in waves.

"Jack, we need to find the source, we need to talk to her, see if she can remember something that you can't."

Jack stood there numbly, watching as the Doctor tried to rouse Donna, his hands on her shoulders, shaking her gently at first, then with more force when she didn't respond.

The panic in his voice as her called to her finally broke Jack's paralysis. Between the two of them they tried everything they could think of to wake the sleeping woman but she had descended into a place beyond waking.

It frightened Jack to the core that she couldn't be roused.

Finally the Doctor stumbled back, the same wild panic in his eyes now tinged with despair as he grabbed handfuls of his hair.

"It can't… she can't… Jack, the levels are going up, the cocktail of central nervous system depressants could get toxic, her unconsciousness is deepening, I can't…"

Seeing the other man come apart before his eyes, Jack steeled his own resolve. He stepped forward and took the Doctor by the shoulders.

"Yes, you can. You can fix this. We can fix this, Doctor, but you need to calm down. We need another way to find the source of the chemicals that are still entering her system."

The Doctor nodded dumbly. Jack sighed in relief. He recognized the panic of a man in love, but he was glad the Doctor wasn't so far gone as to be useless to Donna.

"Now, Doctor, can we give her anything to counteract the benzos?"

The Doctor's gaze fixed on Jack, like a drowning man looking at a life raft he didn't fully believe he was seeing. He closed his mouth with a gulp and straightened his shoulders.

"Um, yes, well, we could if it _was_ benzodiazepines, but it's subtly different…what if we make her worse?"

Jack placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "If we wake her up, we have a better chance of finding the source. Can you think of any other way it could still be affecting her?"

"No." The Doctor dropped his face into his hands for a moment, his head raising up again when Jack's gentle fingers stroked the back of his head, bringing him back to the problem at hand.

"She didn't bring anything back with her that I can recall, didn't eat or drink anything but tea and toast back here," the Doctor continued, "and I've scanned her digestive system, it isn't originating from anything she ingested, and she didn't take anything else that I know of… you're right, we need to talk to her."

The Doctor moved away, purpose replacing despair as he concocted some kind of stimulant in a small dropper.

Jack blinked in surprise to see the Doctor gently open Donna's eyelids and let the droplets fall onto her eyes.

"I would have thought you'd have some kind of hypospray."

"Mucous membranes are a better delivery system for this," the Doctor muttered. "Her blood pressure is low, this way is faster."

Even as he spoke, Donna was stirring. Jack rushed to her other side and both men leaned over her anxiously.


	7. Chapter 7

**I apologize for how long this is taking, health has been an issue, and yes, I know I am taking forever to advance the plot here, the hurt/comfort is my happy place, bear with me? **

**Thanks to Denise and Marilyn for the britspeak**

Donna blinked blearily. The Doctor held his breath, watching her as she struggled to focus on him then tried to sit up. He moved his hands to her shoulders, supporting her and reveling in seeing her move again. It was so wrong to have his normally vibrant companion be so still, it unnerved him more than he cared to admit.

"You…" she reached out a wavering hand toward his face "You're moving like a flag, like a flag in the breeze!"

Not lucid then. The Doctor swallowed. The tension within him warred with his delight at hearing her voice again. She wove her arms around his neck and he gave in to momentary happiness as he embraced her in return, holding her close and burying his face in her hair.

As she slowly pulled away, long moments later, he felt how off-balance she was and supported her to lie back on the pillows.

"Oh Jack! Jack is here! Where is here? What's going on, Doctor?"

Her speech was slurred and her brow furrowed as Donna struggled to orient herself. The Doctor finally managed to tear his eyes away from the woman who looked remarkably beautiful, her hair tousled and her eyes wide in confusion. He followed her gaze over her shoulder and saw Jack similarly affected: the other man couldn't form words; he was just staring at Donna as if in a dream.

"You'll catch flies, that's what my Mum says anyway." Donna reached out gentle fingers to close Jack's mouth as she tried to climb down from the medical bed.

The Doctor simply stared at her. Recovering himself in time, Jack stepped forward and caught her as she slid down from a tangle of sheets and nearly puddled at his feet.

"Ooh." She swatted ineffectually at Jack's hands on her body and then grinned impishly. "My legs feel like jelly. Did you get me sozzled again, Captain?"

Hefting her into his arms so he could hold her close to his chest, Jack managed a smile, although his eyes remained creased in worry. "You are adorable, you know, Miss Noble? And no, you aren't drunk."

She stared up at him, and then at her arms looped around his neck. "How did I…we…Jack…Oh!" She tensed and held tighter to the man supporting her.

The Doctor had been hovering close by, watching them. Donna tucked her face into Jack's chest to hide the blush rising in her cheeks. Gradually coming back to himself, the Doctor folded back the sheets, indicating to Jack to put her down again. He did so, very gently, and with some reluctance. He was clearly gratified when Donna kept hold of his arm.

"Let's get you some water, Donna." The Doctor turned away to fetch a glass and returned to stare down into round questioning blue-green eyes.

She shivered suddenly.

"Okay?" he asked softly.

"It's bloody freezing in 'ere," she mumbled and tightened her grip on Jack, pulling him close. All too happy to oblige her, Jack shuffled beside her until he was half-perched on her bed, leaning into her and running an arm around her shoulders.

Trying not to let the other man's overly familiar touch bother him, the Doctor wrapped blankets around her quietly as Donna looked up at him from her position ensconced in Jack's arms. Both men just looked at her for a moment, suspended, waiting for her to say something else.

Donna reached out for the Doctor too and he nestled in at her other side with a sigh. He knew he should be pressing her to recollect the day's events, he couldn't rest until she was well again, but for a moment it was all he could do to bask in her closeness. He just wanted to hold her to him and never let go.

"You probably feel cold because your blood pressure is low," he murmured, not wanting to disturb the peace that settled over them. He moved his hand up and down her arm, as if trying to warm her but really just reassuring himself of her presence.

Eventually Donna spoke up, her voice still sounding slurred. "Did we…are we safe? Did we get away from there? Are we still on the planet?"

"We are on the TARDIS, in the vortex, you are safe, Donna, we got you away from there. Safe now." As he spoke the Doctor smoothed her hair away from her face. "How are you feeling?"

"I don't remember…" Donna said distractedly, looking back and forth between the two men snuggled close to her now.

"That's okay," the Doctor soothed, it's normal, with the chemicals in your body, that some memories would be fuzzy. What's the last thing you remember, Donna?"

"I…don't know even how we got back here…"

Jack's hand tightened slightly on her arm and she turned to him. He cleared his throat. "You don't remember our talk in the library? In front of the fire?"

The Doctor didn't miss the flash of sadness that crossed Jack's features. "It's okay, Jack, just give her a moment." There was a low warning in the Doctor's voice.

"Course I do! You…we…" her hand reached for him again and her fingers trailed hesitantly across Jack's lips. Jack's eyebrows rose and he lifted his own hand to capture hers.

"I'm glad," he murmured, his eyes holding hers. "But Donna, we need your help to make you better, okay?"

She nodded, gazing up at him with an uncharacteristic openness.

"Let's talk about what you remember…" Jack suggested softly.

She licked her lips nervously. "'m parched."

Instantly the Doctor reached for the water and held it out to her. Her hand automatically closed around the glass but then she almost dropped it. The Doctor caught it just in time.

Donna frowned. "Why aren't my hands working? Or my legs? What's wrong with me?"

She accepted a few sips of the water as the Doctor helped her hold the glass this time.

"We need you to go back to the cavern room." Jack, seeing sudden fear in her eyes, added quickly, "just in your head, we need to know what you can remember, see if we can figure out how they drugged you—"

"_Drug_ me? They didn't drug me!" Donna looked from one man to the other then rubbed her eyes.

"And we need to do this before you get too sleepy again," the Doctor chimed in, grateful for Jack being the one to bring it up.

"You think they drugged me? I don't remember that."

She frowned and pulled her hand from Jack's to start rubbing distractedly at her arms. "They left us alone the whole time. They marched us there, then they just left us, and afterward no one touched me, I don't think anyone touched me but Jack."

She blushed suddenly and closed her eyes, her rubbing movements becoming more frantic. Jack's hands closed around her wrists and stilled her movements.

"Geroff out of it," she mumbled at him, trying to pull her hands back.

Over the top of her head the two men shared a look.

"Easy now," Jack said quietly, keeping her wrists locked inside his large palm.

"I itch all over!" she grumbled.

"Just the effects of the counteracting medications," the Doctor assured her. "It will pass."

"Well, you counter-countered acted it then, so it doesn't even matter." She leaned back, boneless into the pillows and her hands slipped from Jack's hold.

"How do you feel, Donna?" the Doctor inquired quietly.

"'m tired, just wanna sleep, jus' a little."

The Doctor swallowed. "The medicine I give you is wearing off, Donna, I can give you another dose, but that's it. Any more and I am not sure about side effects. We need…"

Her eyes were closing again and the Doctor ran his hand through his hair, looking to Jack, desperation in his eyes. 

Jack roused her, helping her sit more upright, moving behind her to support her.

"Just start at the beginning, Donna, tell us what you remember."

A flush spread throughout her body, the Doctor was close enough that he could feel the heat running through her.

"The only time they even tried to touch me was when they wanted my shoes, nutters. And then didn't… didn't touch me… Jack stopped them. Thought he was gonna bop 'em one." Donna smiled suddenly.

"Did you notice anything in the air maybe?" the Doctor pressed. "A smokiness? A funny smell?"

"Just damp, yeah. I'm all murky-headed, I just need to sleep a bit."

"I thought you said it can't have been airborne, doctor, or she wouldn't be getting worse?" Jack shifted a little and tightened his hold on Donna, trying to keep her upright and alert.

The Doctor's eyes flicked to Jack's. "No, it wasn't airborne, I am just trying to jog her memory. It's not working," he finished blackly. He straightened and fisted his hands in his hair before leaning forward onto the bed.

Donna reached up unexpectedly and tugged him down to her level by his collar. The Doctor caught his breath as they were suddenly eye to eye. Then her fingers unfurled and instead moved to shakily caress his face. He forgot to breathe as her fingertips brushed his lower lip.

"I want you," she whispered.

By this point even Jack wasn't breathing.

The Doctor opened his mouth and closed it. Then opened it again, _focus_, he needed to focus, he needed Donna to focus but it was like her barely lucid state was affecting him too.

"Ooh, Doctor, I feel funny."

Then she passed out, her head lolling back into Jack's shoulder.


	8. Chapter 8

Snapping back to reality, the Doctor straightened and cursed soundly.

"Can you wake her again?" Jack swallowed down his fear for the unconscious woman in his arms as he rearranged himself on the bed beside her, carefully moving her so she was fully supported in his embrace.

"Yes. Once more." The Doctor spoke tersely, his tone matching the tension in Jack's measured tones.

Then he just sat there, simply staring at the two of them for a few minutes. Jack knew better than to interrupt him when he had that look in his eyes. Finally, the Doctor touched his hand to Donna's limp form for a moment before sliding off the bed and busying himself with the medical equipment.

"I'll give her the highest dose possible, keep her with us for as long as we can," he said quietly, his back to Donna and Jack. "She might be somewhat agitated when she comes to, but it will pass quickly."

"I've got her, Doctor."

The Time Lord turned around then and Jack fell silent at the darkness in his eyes.

"I have a plan and you are not going to like it."

Jack nodded gravely, not needing the Doctor to add that this was their last chance, it was written all over his face.

The Doctor had barely set the medicine bottle back down when Donna jolted awake in Jack's arms.

"There now, easy does it." The Doctor was relieved to note the false calm had returned to Jack's voice; it would make this easier if he could count on Jack to be strong, he knew he himself was barely hanging on. It spoke volumes about the depth of their friendship now that he could even fathom the notion of relying on the other man when it was Donna's life in the balance. He moved as close to the two of them as the bed would let him.

Donna gasped and reached blindly for his hand. She was trembling all over as the full effects of the stimulant ran through her system. Half-numb with fear for her, the Doctor supported her to a more upright position, curving his other arm around her back and feeling gently for the pulse in her throat. Her heart rate was jittery and she was gulping down air in between whimpers of protest.

"Shhh, all right now, you're home, you're safe," Jack was crooning to her and she gripped all the tighter to the Doctor's hand with a small frantic cry. With her other hand she batted at Jack's chest in fluttery ineffectual movements that reminded the Doctor of a bird's wings beating senselessly against a cage.

"I'm here too, Donna…I'm here." The Time Lord wished he had Jack's ease with reassurances, but seeing Donna panic was almost as unnerving for him as seeing her lying so still and unresponsive.

At the sound of his voice, Donna turned to him, blinking furiously as she tried to focus on his face.

"I'm here," he repeated, leaning in closer so they were eye to eye.

"What… I… what's going on? I… I can't…" Her voice trailed off, her breath still coming in short harsh pants. A tremor ran through her and he tightened his arm around her, trying to ground her to him.

"I gave you a stronger dose, Donna, your body is flooding with adrenalin," he began, then trailed off as she shakily pulled him closer until she was nestled against his chest. Giving up all pretence of remaining standing, he climbed onto the bed with her and let her burrow deeper into his shirt. He found her nearness calmed him as much as his presence seemed to be helping her come back to herself.

"I feel like I am crawling out of my skin!" Although muffled against his chest, already her voice was normalizing, he noted with relief.

Jack spoke up, still with that hypnotic calm as he flanked her on the other side. "What you are feeling is completely normal, don't worry, we'll take care of you."

His words seemed a salve to Donna as she took a long shuddery breath then let her death grip on the Doctor's shirt relax slightly. He swallowed, trying to work past his fear in order to be able to say something constructive. Jack was still murmuring soft noises against her hair.

Words still failed him. If he couldn't fix what had happened to her – what he had _let_ happen to her because he had been foolish enough to let her out of his sight – then this could be the last time he would ever hold her, the last time he would ever feel her heart beat strongly against his own. Finally, he whispered her name and felt her breathing even out, soft flutters against his throat. His own throat worked with emotion.

Then he pulled himself together mentally. This was why he never allowed himself to feel this way, what he felt for Donna, it was too much, too big, but he wouldn't let anything take her away from him. He called to her softly, then again when she gave no response.

"_Donna."_ The rasp of fear and pain in his voice was evident to his own ears.

She moved her head a little and he regretfully pulled back from her until he could see her face. Her eyes were closed and her breathing regular – his soothing her had gone too far he realized as cold fear seized him. He shook her slightly but she merely frowned in her sleep.

"_Donna!_"

Much to the Doctor's relief she startled awake again, calming almost instantly now she was in his arms. She blinked a few times then looked back and forth between the two men leaning over her solicitously. There was a look of bewilderment in her eyes.

"There's no need to yell, Spaceman." She gave him one of her classic reproving looks that made his chest constrict but the Doctor ploughed on anyway.

"Donna, listen to me, this is important," he admonished her forcefully.

"All right! Don't get your knickers in a twist!" She sat up in the bed and raised one perfect eyebrow as she looked back and forth at the two men tangled up in the sheets with her.

The Doctor gaped at her soundlessly for a moment, her trademark scolding derailing him with its familiarity, at once comforting and paralyzing. It was almost as if the last few minutes hadn't happened and she hadn't just been clinging to him for dear life, her nearness and trust stealing all his coherence.

"You fell asleep," he began by way of explaining himself, his voice higher pitch in helplessness now, as much undone by this swift change in her demeanor as the last.

"All right, boys and girls." Jack sat up straight, moving closer to Donna, one hand keeping a firm grip on her shoulder while the other rubbed her back slowly, soothingly. "No need to get stroppy, either of you, I know you are stressed, Doctor, Donna is going to help us out now, no need to worry."

"Of course I'll help," Donna offered, mollified by Jack's actions. "What do you need, Doctor?" She reached out her hand to him and he took it, shuffling closer as he did so.

When he was as close to her as he could get he lifted her hand to his chest and covered it with his own. Her eyes watched him closely but she didn't object. He gazed at her for a full moment, drawing strength from her.

"I need to know what happened back on the planet, Donna. And I can't keep you awake enough to just ask more questions, besides, I know it isn't easy to talk about." His long fingers stroked the back of her hand but his gaze flicked to the man behind her.

Donna's eyes went wide. "You what? You mean…when Jack and I…why? Oh – is this your thing about me being drugged or somethin'? I'm just tired, Doctor."

"Hold your arms out."

Donna rolled her eyes but did as he asked.

"Jack, let her go."

Jack complied, but stayed close nonetheless.

"Now close your eyes, Donna."

She huffed an impatient breath but followed his command.

"Turn to the left, then to the right…now open your eyes."

She did so and in seconds she almost keeled over, tumbling forward into the Doctor's waiting arms with a surprised squeal.

"Oooh! Dizzy. Buhhh… Oh don't let go, I'm goin' fall right off t'bed!"

"I won't let you go, you aren't going to fall," he whispered, his arms around her securely and his hearts clenching at her uncharacteristic vulnerability as she once more clung to him.

"Listen," he pressed their bodies together to keep her stable as he thread his fingers gently through her hair, supporting her head and encouraging her to let her head tip back until she could meet his eyes. "You can trust me, Donna, you are safe here."

She smiled slowly and slightly lopsidedly. "I know that, Dumbo," she slurred affectionately.

He couldn't help it, didn't care that Jack was watching; he leaned forward and kissed her forehead, cherishing the feel of her soft skin beneath his lips.

When he dared to meet her eyes again she was still smiling, a little crookedly, a look in her eyes at once playful and yet shy as she curled her fingers in his lapels and pulled his face down to hers again. She grazed her lips over his and it felt like absolution.

When she eventually pulled away the Doctor remained in place, stunned, his mouth still tingling.

Jack's hand came up to smooth her hair away from her eyes she glanced his way, gracing him with a languid smile too. Jack then moved his fingers into her hair until his hand was covering the Doctor's in supporting the back of Donna's neck.

"Let's lie her down, Doctor, we may not have much time."

"For what?" Donna asked with a slight frown, nonetheless acquiescing to their attempts to settle her back on the pillows.

"Retrace your steps today, let the Doctor see everything through our eyes—"

"You what?" she sounded suspicious. The Doctor ran his hand through his hair and looked at her desperately, willing her to allow him to do this.

Jack's fingers looped circles across her temples. He opened his mouth to speak again and stopped abruptly when the Doctor's hand closed firmly over his forearm.

"Don't upset her, it will be like a dream, it will be easier if it feels that way for her."

Jack regarded him seriously, looking like he wanted to say more, but in the end he held his tongue.

The Doctor took a deep breath. "Close your eyes, Donna."

"Spaceman?" Donna sounded confused as she looked between them.

His mouth went dry. She shrugged and closed her eyes.

"Donna, I'm going to count backwards from five." _And pray to any gods listening that that isn't the last word I ever hear you say to me._

5


	9. Chapter 9

"Where are we? What is this room?" Jack's voice was a little breathless in fear.

"All three of us are going to be effectively unconscious, or at least tuned out to our actual surroundings. We needed a safer surface than the medical cot. This room is more of a long term care facility."

"But what about all the medical scanners and beeping doohickeys, she still has rising levels of benzos in her body?"

The Doctor indicated to the large, framed bed Donna now lay on. Encased in softer bedding she had snuggled down into pillows and was watching the two men as they stood together over her. She looked completely relaxed now, her face blank and her eyes following the Doctor's every move as he fussed around her.

"This bed is still capable of monitoring her biomedical readings, just less intrusive."

"But this room, it's kinda dark, looks more like a bedroom – she's not convalescing, Doctor, she needs treatment!"

"There is nothing I can do for her, Jack!" It came out more tersely than he had intended. The Doctor took a breath and tried to keep his emotions in check.

"…Even with all the medical science of the universe at my disposal." He indicated behind him to the infirmary where they had just left with a dismissive wave, hoping Jack didn't see how his hand shook. "It won't matter where we are in a few moments anyway, lie down."

Jack complied with a worried sigh, settling in at Donna's side. The Doctor watched them, Donna still eerily quiet and accepting as she turned to regard the man lying down beside her, his hand coming up to stroke stray red hairs from her forehead.

"If she's still conscious, why isn't she saying anything?"

The concern in Jack's voice was palpable as he stared into Donna's slightly glazed eyes. "And how are we going to get her to go back there, even in her head? It's weird how out of it she is."

The Doctor swallowed. He schooled his voice not to belie the fear he felt, seeing Donna so passive like this, knowing they were running out of time. He took up his position on her other side and took both of her hands in his.

"She's in a very suggestible state right now, Captain, I need to keep her calm, and also keep her with us without sleeping." He leaned down and made sure Donna was making eye contact with him. She looked vaguely perturbed, but mostly zoned out.

"Donna, I need you to go back… I need you to remember what happened today back on the planet… in the cave, with Jack. I need you to recall it all – not just remember it, I need you to go back in your mind. I want you and Jack to relive everything as if it is happening to you."

Her mild perturbation had slowly changed into fear as she sat up straighter and gripped his fingers more tightly now. "I don't want to go back there!"

"You won't be alone, Donna, I'll be there with you and we will have Jack's memories too."

Her eyes grew round. "We'll take you into that cave room with us?"

He nodded soberly. "We will walk through everything that happened until one of us can work out just how and when the chemicals got into your bloodstream."

Her eyes went very wild and the panic on her face made the Doctor's heart sink. The state of calm he had lulled her into had cracked. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jack moving up behind her, darkness and worry in his eyes as his large hands settled on her shoulders.

"Jack! And you! I…no! Are you completely bonkers? Do all that again? I can't! Not even in my head! That's…no!"

"Shhh," he hummed, his hands running down her arms now almost to where her hands were still interlinked with the Doctor's. "Donna. I 'm here. No one is going to hurt you. Did I hurt you before, in the cave?"

"No," she whispered, and turned her face up to his, a look passing between them.

"And I'm not going to hurt you if you go back there. Neither will the Doctor."

"I can't," she said resolutely.

His shoulders slumped slightly. The Captain exchanged a meaningful glance with the Doctor over the top of Donna's head. His turn.

"Donna, look at me, focus only on me…deep breaths, that's it…it won't be like that for you, I am sorry I scared you, forget what I said, you are safe-"

"Safe," she repeated, the eerie calm creeping back into her voice as her fingers tightened in his and her eyes held fast to his own with such strength the Doctor wondered for a moment if he wasn't in danger of mesmerizing himself. As it was, his worry for her was stealing most of his lucidity.

"Donna, we need your help to find something important."

"Of course," she replied simply, still looking up into his eyes intently.

"I want you to take a little rest first, lie back, close your eyes, but don't fall asleep….that's it, good, just drift." He kept their gazes locked as Jack lowered her back down on the pillows.

We are going to take a little rest, close your eyes now. And when you open them you'll be in the cavern, you won't be alone, and you will feel everything just as it was for you earlier, you will experience it as the first time, use everything you can remember to recreate every detail in your mind.

She was nodding a little, looking remarkably peaceful nestled on the pillows.

"That's it?" asked Jack dubiously.

"Think of it like hypnosis, guided retrieval, aided by environmental and internal cues to recall we will use when we go back there, in her mind and yours. Your combined memories reconstruct the setting, veridical recall taking a backseat to your subjective experience—"

"But every touch, every movement, there is no way I can remember all that—"

The panic in Jack's tone tore at the Doctor's hearts as he realized how much Donna meant to him, and moreover, how intent Jack was on doing the best he could for the Doctor. He did not deserve the unwavering devotion of such an old soul as Jack.

He sat heavily on the bed beside him, one hand falling on the other man's shoulder. Jack sat up cautiously. After a moment's hesitation, the Doctor reached out and embraced him. He swallowed his surprise in a muffled noise against the Doctor's neck.

"You won't need to remember, Captain, you'll be reliving it. If we can capture the feel of it you and Donna will react to each other much as you did before. You got her out of this unscathed once already today; you can relax and let instinct take over, and Jack?"

Jack pulled back a little and met the Time Lord's dark eyes.

"You have very good instincts."

_Where are we?_ the Doctor asked, breathless in disorientation, his attempts to stay in control dissolving fast.

_This is the place they brought us to. Can you see it?_ Jack's voice in his head was steady, reassuring.

The Doctor took a few steadying breaths. _Yes. Just as you do, as she does, even the chill of the air, the dampness, and…she feels eyes watching her from all around._

Donna turned wide eyes to him. "You can feel them too?"

The Doctor nodded. She sounded so uncertain, standing there, bewilderment in her expression as she looked back and forth between the Doctor and the cavern, as if trying to figure out what was wrong with this picture. His hearts hurt for the confusion she must be feeling but she was still unfocused from the combination of hypnosis and the drugs in her system, so she didn't probe for further information, she just stood there. Her hands rubbed her own arms in an unconscious soothing gesture, or perhaps against the damp chill in the air; so complete was the psychic reconstruction he had built from her memories and Jack's that even the Doctor could feel the cold here.

_Put your arm around her._

_I…I…Jack, I can't…she's frightened._

_Hush, I know. She's frightened because she's back here… or there. Heck, even I am confused and I know what's going on._

_She's frightened of __**me**__._

_Doctor, you aren't going to hurt her, she needs to hear that, tell her._

The Doctor stared at him. Jack rolled his eyes but gave him a warm smile.

_You wanted this in first person. You're experiencing everything as I did, Doctor. _

_She's seeing me instead of you – that wasn't supposed to happen._

_It makes sense,_ Jack offered with just a tad too much nonchalance. _It would be weird if she saw both of us here. She wanted it to be you all along. But you still have to do everything as I did, if you want to make it as close to the same as the first time as possible and get at what we are looking for._

The Doctor acknowledged the truth of Jack's words even as he resolved to submit to Jack's lead in what to do next.

_Touch her._

The Doctor froze.

_Been a long time since you seduced a woman, Doctor?_

He sniffed imperiously. _I don't do that. I don't seduce anyone._

Jack snorted. _Sure you do. What with all that stars and new worlds and time travel __**come with me**__ patter you got going? Don't pretend you are a stranger to seducing a human woman, Doctor, it's me you are talking to._

Jack smirked, but not unkindly, before mentally closing the distance between them and then it was like he was in the Doctor's skin…or the Doctor was inside him, an indiscernible distinction. They were one. He lifted his arm and placed it around Donna's shoulders. The Doctor tensed immediately and Donna looked up at him, her eyes wide.

"It's going to be fine," the Doctor's hushed tones held a confidence that was not his own, and an intimacy that was. His lips brushed against her ear.

He held his breath until Donna herself breathed out and she looked up at him, fear and trust mingled together in her expression. When he didn't move she raised her hand to tangle her fingers in his at her shoulder, giving his hand a soft squeeze of encouragement that got his feet moving.

He led her all the way into the middle of the cavernous room, dimly lit, almost like a dungeon. When she grabbed his hand more firmly the Doctor brushed his fingertips to her pulse point and felt the blood rushing too fast. He squeezed her hand in reassurance, distracting her while a heavy door he had previously been unaware of clanged to, and the Doctor felt keenly as Donna's fear stepped up a notch.

5


	10. Chapter 10

Thank you SO much to those of you reading and commenting, it means the world to me.

They stood close together, not moving. Donna scanned the room, looking for another exit, but something in her demeanor seemed merely to be going through the motions, memory and instinct colliding. A shudder ran through her as she recognized the openings cut into the rock all the way around the circular room.

Wanting to keep her mind focused on him, and not her erstwhile voyeurs, the Doctor moved to stand in front of her.

She looked up at him as Jack moved with the Doctor to raise Donna's hand to his shoulder then lifted her around the waist before either of them knew what was happening, hoisting her easily up onto a high bed. The Doctor hadn't noticed the bed until that point either, and he realized it was because in Donna's mind she had been trying to block it out. She gasped and guilt lanced through him. He quickly lifted his hands from her hips as he stood in front of where she now sat on the ledge.

He felt something dark stir in Jack's soul as he moved one hand to brush her hair from her eyes in silent apology. The man was mentally preparing himself, Donna knew it too and she swallowed. The Doctor faltered mentally. He could have gone through with such an act – and would be steeling himself in that moment just as Jack had done – but not with Donna. The Doctor knew then Jack had been right to take her; he could not have gone through even with a façade, not when Donna was looking at him like that.

_No, she didn't look at me like that,_ Jack intimated. _Not with such trust. She sees you, her Doctor, she doesn't see me here this time._

It was true. The Doctor could see himself through Donna's eyes, their connection strong. She saw him, and only him. She trusted him, but she was also overwhelmed.

Jack seemed about to say something to Donna too, but instead he moved their hand around to cup her face for a moment before he started climbing up beside her.

The Doctor felt it keenly that his nearness was overwhelming her. Donna turned from him and crawled over the strange material hesitantly, then sat down and wrapped her arms around her knees. He thinned his lips as he watched her, Donna's fear paralyzing him more than it did her. Then he tore his eyes away and looked down where he was sitting. Their 'bed' was draped with blankets in a tapestry of color. They were surprisingly soft considering the platform itself looked to be hewn out of the same rock as the rest of this strange cave dungeon.

Then he was moving again, at Jack's behest, and he felt gratitude war with doubt as they both welled up inside him. _Relax_, Jack whispered. The Doctor couldn't tell if he was speaking to him or had spoken to Donna. "There now," he soothed, coming to sit beside her, "nothing we can't handle."

His arms came around her shoulders without hesitation and Donna let him hold her against the solid wall of his chest. As she relaxed into the familiarity of his touch. The Doctor could feel her remind herself that this closeness was a prelude to what they were there for and she tensed in his arms.

"You've done this lark before then?" She tried her best to keep her voice casual, then surprise tumbled out in her next words. "Why does this feel like déjà vu?"

She sounded so like herself just then it broke through the tension. He chuckled drily and felt Jack inside his head echoing the sentiment with chagrin. "Yeah. Perils of space and time my love. Randy aliens wanting to see other aliens shagging. But the good news is I can get us through this, all of us. If you will just trust me we can get out of here in no time, be like it never happened."

She blinked. "You sound like Jack," she said softly and shook herself a little. "So…what… they're watching then?" she asked dully, plucking at nonexistent threads in the drapes.

A hand cupped her cheek and turned her face up to his. The Doctor stumbled mentally again but his hesitation didn't affect Jack's smooth actions and words.

"Donna, look at me. As far as we know, we're alone, and it's better to just go with that, okay?"

His voice was authoritative, even commanding, and whereas in other circumstances Donna would never have stood for that, now the Doctor felt her appreciating Jack's warm and no-nonsense manner. If anything, she was surprised at how willing she was to accept his leading; she belonged with him. The hypnosis had stripped away all other artifice and allowed her to own that simple truth.

His eyebrows shot up as Jack moved his hand to her knee, bringing their current reality sharply back into focus. The Doctor's hearts drummed against his ribcage in shock. He stared at his hand. _His_ hand. On Donna's knee. Donna cleared her throat.

"You have a plan then, Doctor?" She was watching at his hand too as it softly stroked her leg over her skirt. The Doctor gathered just enough vestiges of coherence to check her mind and found no fear of his touch, only fascination and something more… something that made his hearts constrict with the pain of hoping… something that he felt would be intruding if he had dared to name it.

"Yes, I have a plan," Jack continued, speaking in the Doctor's voice, a sensation still so discomfiting.

She blinked. "How?" He felt her clinging to his self-assured words like a lifeline and his hearts swelled at the depth of her faith in him.

Jack paused. The Doctor felt him consider and reject something but it happened too fast for the Doctor to follow his line of thought, especially with his hand caressing Donna's leg: he hadn't appreciated just how distracting touching her would be.

Jack lifted their hand from Donna's body and with a jolt the Doctor realized he was going to undo the buckle on his trousers.

_Wait._

"Wait!"

Startled, the Doctor looked up at Donna. She had spoken the word in almost the same moment his mind had thought it. Then he looked down; her hand was gripping his arm. Inside her mind he felt the prickles of apprehension.

"Jack. Can we… can you wait? Please? I just need a… a moment?"

Jack stopped moving.

As clear as a bell inside his mind the Doctor felt how she hated the plaintive turn in her voice, but more than anything, he felt his stomach drop at the apprehension in her eyes. This must have been so hard on her, even more than he realized. And on Jack too for that matter. He forced himself to drag his mind back to Jack, who, with more presence of mind than the increasingly distraught Time Lord, was using the Doctor's voice to reassure Donna even then.

"Of course. Of course we can, Donna, love. No hurry. Whenever you are ready." He lifted his hands into the air in a gesture of surrender then let one hand fall to cover hers very lightly where she was still gripping his arm.

Donna swallowed and dropped her eyes. Then she sat up straight and lowered her head, gulping down deep breaths.

The Doctor moved back a little, giving her space, and turned his attention inward.

_Jack – what are you leaving out?_

It took Jack a moment to pull his focus back from Donna. _I can see what she's feeling this time…I can feel it too…_ His awe was tangible.

That brought the Doctor up short. He hadn't considered that by acting as a conduit for both of their recollections he would be broadcasting Donna's experience into Jack's mind so directly. Concentrating, he inclined the planes of his mind to see Donna through Jack's perception. Even as it began to clear like a fog rolling away, he could feel his balance tipping and his mental footing start to give. His perception slanted and he had to squint with his mind's eye. Relieved, he saw that Jack had only an echo of Donna's mind in his, a glancing angle giving him an occasional insight into her thoughts and a shimmer of her emotions pressing on his own.

Like a three-legged stool losing one of its legs, the Doctor felt their three-way connection weaken the longer he focused on seeing through Jack's perspective. He took a mental step back from the other man and looked over at Donna.

She was sitting bent over, her head almost between her knees. He frowned, this wasn't going well.

_It didn't exactly go swimmingly when it was me she was with either._ Jack's voice sounded a little sardonic inside his head. _She's just taking a moment, did the same with me, don't worry. She's brave, she comes around._

_Jack, I need to know what __**isn't**__ the same with you. You left something out before, I need you to walk me through every little thing, we have to find out how she was drugged._

_I left something out?_

The Doctor could tell Jack was still mesmerized by his connection to Donna's mind.

_Yes. Before you started to undress. Something else happened there._

_Oh. Right. I was just… well, I thought maybe if she felt more in control of things it would help her relax, you know. So I suggested she take the lead. You want me to do it again?_

_Everything exactly as before. _He felt Jack shrug in acquiescence.

Gently tilting her chin up to see her eyes, they were both alarmed to see a tear trickle down her cheek.

Jack's jaw twitched. The Doctor felt it as if it was his own jaw, but the tic was all Jack. _ She didn't cry before, not yet anyway._

The Doctor swallowed, his own pain mirroring Donna's anguish and Jack's guilt until it ricocheted around in his mind, magnified beyond bearing. He closed his eyes and moved forward, enveloping Donna in his arms. She went willingly and they clung to each other.

A few minutes passed before the Doctor felt stable enough to let things proceed again. He could tell Donna didn't want him to ask about her tears, and that being embraced by him had helped her regain some equilibrium as much as it had him.

"Sometimes it's easier to let the girl be in charge. I can just be here, you can be completely in control. If you like, I can just lie back and you can take over." Jack's voice resounded in the Doctor's chest, his words coming out of the Doctor's mouth, steady and measured.

It was with greater difficulty that Jack convinced the Doctor to release Donna and then lie back on the pillows, giving her space. But he did it, feeling strange stepping through Jack's leading.

Donna stayed where she was, the Doctor feeling her sudden sense of being bereft as deeply as his own.

She looked him up and down. "Um…"

He smiled at her encouragingly, knowing she wouldn't go for it.

She took a breath. "Blimey. I…I can see why that would make it easier…" She shrugged. "Okay then."

Jack sat him up quickly, his smile falling from the Doctor's face as he registered what she had said.

5


	11. Chapter 11

The Doctor sat bolt upright in the bed, only realizing he was staring at Donna when she tilted her head to the side and looked embarrassed.

"Is something wrong?" she asked softly. "You don't want me to?" The Doctor felt her momentary confidence rapidly coming undone as he continued to stare.

"No…" he managed, and reached for her hand to give it a reassuring squeeze. "I want you to… very much, I just wasn't expecting…"

_I take it she didn't say that the first time around, Jack?_

_No, she did not. So much for replicating what happened with me. I can't go back on that and demand to be the one in charge now._

The Doctor was still trying to work out what had changed, searching Donna's mind for the answer he saw that her tears just moments earlier had come in response to the realization that no last-minute rescue plan would unfold, and then her strength had built again as he had held her in his arms.

But before he could grasp how, this time around, that change had translated into her being willing to take the lead, she was laying trembling hands on his shoulders and entreating him to lie back down. He followed her lead, lying back on the pillows. Donna hovered above him. She was searching his eyes, doubt playing across her features.

"Why do you look all surprised like that? This was your idea, we can try something else if you'd rather—"

The insecurity in her voice chased his indecision away. "There's nothing else I'd rather do than lie back and have you touch me," he assured her rapidly. Too rapidly, as her expression changed to shock, and then, much to his horror, disbelief. The Doctor quickly replayed his words inside his head.

"That didn't come out right. I'm sorry, Donna."

"Oh." She nodded, and sat back a little, biting her lip.

"But it's true," he blurted out, unable to bear seeing her like this, as if she really couldn't believe he would want her – and no one else but her – to touch him.

He sat up a little, unbuttoning his jacket and shrugging it off. Then he reached for her hand, placing it on his chest.

"It's true, Donna."

She shrugged off his words. "You don't have to say that stuff. Pretend I am anyone you like."

The Doctor looked at her, dumbfounded. _"What?"_ He could feel Jack's surprise as an echo of his own.

Donna was most perturbed now, her eyes shining with unshed tears that made the Doctor and Jack's hearts wrench. She tried to draw her hand away from him but the Doctor held her fast.

"I…don't know why I said that, I'm sorry," she mumbled, looking away in embarrassment.

_I think I might know why,_ Jack offered sheepishly. _I might have tried that line on her. Does this mean she's channeling me now?_

"It's okay," the Doctor assured her, his hand closing over hers. With his other hand he starting unbuttoning his shirt then he drew Donna to lay down beside him.

_Um, not sure if this is a good time to point out I took my pants off but didn't get undressed up top, _Jack murmured. The Doctor was too preoccupied to answer him.

Unable to escape his penetrating gaze now that he had moved her to lie beside him, Donna stared up at him, her eyes widening slightly as he brought her hand to his now bare chest.

"Donna," he whispered, his eyes so intent on hers, "I mean it when I say I don't want to be here with anyone else."

She blew out a breath. "Well, obviously, I mean why would you want to be cooped up in here with anybody, bunch of skeezy aliens gawking at your bits!" She made a face, but the insecurity under her attempts at humor would have been apparent to the Doctor even without his connection to her feelings.

"No. That's not what I mean." He moved closer and lifted his hand to her cheek, the pad of his thumb brushing lightly along her cheekbone.

"I want to be with you, Donna. I don't feel 'cooped up' when I am with you. Ever. I should have been here, and now I am. Together. If I close my eyes and think about anyone touching me, it will be you. It's you I want."

She was staring at him, the dubious surprise back in her eyes. He suppressed a sigh as he was forced to remember that this version of Donna hadn't held onto the memory of their talk in the console room, after they had escaped from the planet.

This close he could feel the heat from her body and he pressed himself closer still. He heard her give an almost soundless gasp but the Doctor was unable to hold back, he needed desperately to reassure her, to reach her. "We don't have to talk about this now, Donna. I just don't want you worrying that I don't want you to touch me."

"So you do?" she asked faintly. Staring at him in wonderment.

"Yes." He could feel it as her defenses crumbled a little further and he breathed out in relief, his breath stirring the wisps of hair that framed her face. She was starting to believe him, he could feel it.

Jack gave him a mental equivalent of clearing his throat and tapping his foot. The Doctor crashed back into their present reality with an inward groan.

_I know, I know. Didn't happen this way, I know._

_Nope. You didn't pop up in the cave room and confess your undying love for her, no._ He paused. _She all but admitted to me that she had it bad for you, though_. Jack gave a mental shrug at the symmetry.

_She did? To you? The first time?_ the Doctor was suddenly insatiably curious.

_Yep. And no, I'm not going to get into it. Aren't we running out of time, Doctor? You do remember why we are here?_

_Actually, we have plenty of time, we've only been under with her for 2.2 minutes. _Forestalling Jack's next question, he added, _time passes differently in this hypnotic state, it is more akin to dreaming, lifetimes can unfold in moments._

He felt Jack relax some at that news. Then his thoughts skittered back to Donna in a hurry when he felt her undoing the rest of his shirt buttons then trailing her fingers through his chest hair. It felt amazing.

But Jack wasn't through with him. _Still. We are way off track here. She should be demurring at the taking charge bit and asking you to lead instead, and you should be using that as an invitation to have your kit off, acting like it's nothing, so she can get used to it._

_I just…Jack, I need… I mean, she needs to do this, right now._

Jack sent him a mental image of removing his trousers and underwear in one fell swoop and dropping them to the floor. Then the Doctor saw in his minds eye the other man prowling up the bed, and saw Donna through his eyes as she tried to look anywhere but at Jack.

Donna stopped moving and scrunched up her face. Grateful for the distraction, the Doctor swung his attention back fully to the woman in his arms, worried she was picking up the images Jack was broadcasting to him from his memories. But before he could ask if she was all right, she beat him to it.

"Are you nervous? You aren't even breathing." Her voice sounded curious, her concern was only for him.

"I'm not nervous." He breathed in and out in exaggerated fashion and smiled at her when she rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not nervous, Donna."

She had a glint in her eye now that made him very happy indeed. She was studying him, gauging him, with a confidence that made him want to grab her and kiss her.

Inwardly, he felt Jack now as the one rolling his eyes as the other man pulled back from them with a slight huff.

Donna let her hands skim lower, caressing his stomach, her touch light and yet sensually slow, seeking what pleased him as she explored. He closed his eyes as the pleasure prickling over his skin took him unawares. It had been so long since anyone had touched him like this, careful and yet curious. It was amazingly erotic.

_Shut up,_ he warned Jack, imagining he heard the other man chuckling.

The Doctor swallowed hard, as her hands eventually found his trouser fastenings and he was rendered incapable of thought. She undid the button and his breath hitched, but she hesitated at the zip, returning instead to run her hands soothingly across his chest.

"Breathe," she whispered, and he realized with surprise that there was concern in her voice, concern for him.

He forced himself to breathe again, in something of a normal rhythm. When he opened his eyes she was watching him. "It's okay," he stammered. "Please, keep going."

Jack chuckled more distinctly this time.

_Well, at least I'm getting the trousers off, like you said,_ he shot at Jack, preempting any comment from the other man, who merely smirked in response. The Doctor got the distinct feeling Jack was enjoying the show.

She looked at him for a moment longer. He felt his hearts swell with love for her as he understood she really was checking to make sure he was okay. Was that just her trademark compassion, or did she understand how much she was affecting him?

Then she moved again, and slowly undid his trousers. The Doctor wriggled to help her as she drew them down his legs. Then he sat up as he felt her undoing his converse. He watched, mesmerized suddenly, as her fingers worked the laces loose. He was enchanted with the feelings it evoked in him to have Donna undress him, but his shoes in particular were giving him pause – seeing her so carefully undoing them made him almost feel like he was unraveling himself before he shook himself a little and kicked off everything, leaving him in only his undone shirt and boxer shorts.

He refocused his gaze back to Donna, she was looking at him, worry in her eyes. "Are you okay?" she asked him before he could ask her the very same thing.

"Very okay," he responded, and couldn't help a lopsided grin, which she returned, putting his fears at rest for now as he saw the twinkle in her eye, the one she usually got when they were about to embark on a new adventure.

She lifted one of the blankets and pulled it around him, an action which confused him at first until he felt her worry internally about the beings she still believed were watching them.

After a moment's hesitation, she joined him under the blankets. They looked at each other and she brought her hand up to stroke his cheek.

"Are you blushing?" Her question was as gentle as her hands on his body.

"Time Lords don't blush, Donna," he managed that slightly imperious tone that was supposed to carry weight but he had forgotten that when he did what Donna called 'getting on his high horse' she would just snicker and ignore him. Or worse: lately she had taken to ruffling his hair and saying, "don't get all high and mighty with me, Sunshine". Sometimes with a wink. It deflated him every time.

This time, however, she just smiled quietly and held his gaze. He held still, wanting so much to reach out and touch her in return but making himself wait, allowing this technique of letting her take the lead to play out. Jack had been right, she was more relaxed than she had been at any point since this had begun.

She allowed her eyes to roam over his body and he held still as she looked back up to his face then closed some of the distance between them. Stopping only inches from his body to draw in a breath. The Doctor reached deeper into her mind and felt as she experienced how real this was and for the first time let herself imagine that they really might be about to have sex.

"Bloomin' 'eck," she mumbled and they shared an embarrassed but warm smile.

Moments passed until finally Jack spoke again, tentatively taking charge again. _I think I know where to take it from here, Doctor, if I can?_

The Doctor considered, unsure what was the right thing to do.

_She's relaxed, as least as much as she is going to be, and we need to pick up where we left off, find the source of the poison._

The Doctor could hear the reluctance in the Captain's voice even as his own hearts sank at the truth in the other man's words.

_Sorry,_ Jack offered.

_No, you are right. Okay then._

His voice dropped lower in sympathy. _It's going to be okay, Doctor._

Jack encouraged him to shuffle closer to Donna. The Doctor still hesitated. _She's in charge, I'm not supposed to make any moves._

_Look at her face, Doctor, she's ready, she's waiting for you._

_What if I scare her?_

_She trusts you. She will be all right._

5


	12. Chapter 12

**Many thanks for all the favorites and follows!**

Before his nerves could get the better of him, the Doctor moved in and pressed his lips to Donna's cheek. To his profound relief, she leaned into him a little and sighed as he enveloped her in a hug.

"Sorry," she mumbled against his chest eventually.

"What for?"

"Being so daft."

He tsked and Donna could feel the shake of his head as his arms tightened around her. "No need to be sorry. Just takes a bit of getting used to that's all."

He held her for a few more moments, savoring their closeness. Jack stirred restlessly in his mind. "Are you ready to keep going?" he asked carefully, his words an echo of Jack's thoughts. She looked up at him, her eyes round in the dim light.

"Donna?" His voice had dropped to a low rumble and he tilted back a little so he could see her eyes better as he let Jack's next words fall from his lips. "If you like, I can take over now. I'll keep it simple, just the basics, okay?"

Swallowing down his fear and fighting hard to let Jack keep running the show, the Doctor reached out mentally to Donna instead, and felt her gather her composure.

"What do you need me to do?"

The Doctor sighed internally in relief. That's my girl, he thought. So brave.

"I can do everything, Donna, I just need you to relax."

They looked at each other for a moment. "Yeah," she murmured.

Jack moved his hand to the waistband of the Doctor's boxers. Feeling the fumbling between their bodies, the Doctor realized at the same moment Donna did that Jack was about to remove his underwear, and felt her flash of panic as his own.

_No. Jack don't._

_I did this last time,_ Jack countered.

_I know. But I think if you do this, we'll lose her again._

Still inside her mind, keenly attuned to her now, the Doctor felt Donna's cheeks grow

hot and she looked away, shuffling back from him an inch or so as Jack started to move his hand again. But he merely removed it from the underwear and laid it instead on Donna's hip.

"I think you have me at a disadvantage, Miss Noble."

He cocked his head and gave her a trademark grin that quickly faded to a warm smile, the corners of his eyes crinkling with understanding. Donna gripped the edge of the blanket, pulling it tighter around her.

"I don't want to take my clothes off," she said quickly, awkwardness making her voice tight. "They're watching."

Jack moved the Doctor's hand to lightly stroke up and down her leg. "It's okay, you don't have to," he promised, much to Donna and the Doctor's combined relief. "Just your underwear, that's all, we can keep your skirt down, you're cocooned in blankets, no one will see."

She made a noncommittal noise in response and pulled back a little to look up at him. His features were carefully composed in a confident grin when she met his eyes, like this was all normal, like they weren't about to shag for the viewing pleasure of a bunch of skeevy aliens.

(Which, Jack mused, was all the easier now that he knew there were no skeevy aliens and they weren't actually about to shag.)

Donna closed her eyes. The Doctor could feel her gratitude for his forthrightness, but this whole thing was disorienting her. The further the situation stressed her nerves, the more she dissociated. Most disturbingly, one result of her weakening grip on the reality of the experience was that she sometimes thought she could hear Jack – even imagine herself with him – when her eyes were closed. She opened her eyes again quickly, letting the familiar form of the Doctor reassure her, even if his state of undress was decidedly unfamiliar.

"Ready?" He tilted his head in question, and she nodded quickly, rolling from her side to her back to make it easier for him. The Doctor leaned over her and felt her determined effort to be caught up in his façade of normalcy.

His hands on her body were almost as assertive as his smile. Jack was sure of himself, but not without gentleness as he moved under her skirt. Donna flinched and the Doctor stuttered in his relinquishing of control to the other man.

_It's all right, Doctor, let me do this._

He moved over her and dropped a light kiss on her cheek. Donna's eyes fluttered closed. The Doctor had the sinking sensation that she couldn't bring herself to look at him. She shifted underneath him, unable to bear the waiting any longer and her hand worked its way to his chest.

Overruling Jack's control, the Doctor removed his hands from Donna's legs, careful not to make any sudden moves, and moved over her, bracing himself with his arms either side of her head.

She opened her eyes and looked up at him, a question in her gaze, mirroring the one Jack was asking wordlessly inside his mind.

"I don't want you to feel uncomfortable. Let's leave all your clothes on for now," he answered them both.

Donna released a breath at the same moment Jack sighed. There was a momentary pause before Jack resumed control, apparently having decided not to argue with the Doctor. His lips were gentle as he pressed them to Donna's forehead before working his way down her face to her mouth. The Doctor fought to stay focused as the newness of intimacy with the woman he loved threatened to steal all his coherence.

He curved the backs of his fingers in a caress of her hair, she was barely breathing now and the Doctor could feel the anticipation building inside her. His lips stopped short of claiming her lips, mouthing her cheek delicately instead. She felt so right under him, he was holding his breath as much as she was. He could feel her eyelashes brush his cheek and drew back just slightly to meet her eyes.

Reassured by the trust he saw there, the Doctor knew in a place beyond words that she wanted him too, and it spurred him on to let Jack continue. He moved over her, careful to keep his weight off her body, letting his gentle touch communicate his need for her, but also his respect and concern. She turned her face slightly towards him, a small sigh escaping her lips. It spoke volumes about her trust in him, but more than that, he could feel her desire, and it shook the Doctor to his core.

In response, he emitted a more guttural moan. Donna gasped as his hungry kisses moved along the line of her jaw and lower. The Doctor had long lost track of which movements were his and which came from the Captain but he kept a close monitoring of Donna's state of mind and was overjoyed to feel a thrill of arousal run through her as he repeated his possessive growl. Nor did she show any fear as his hand, seemingly of its own accord, drifted under her blouse, tenderly seeking to be closer to her. So warm under his fingertips, the softness of her skin felt like the richest velvet.

He wasn't sure which of the three of them initiated it when their lips met and he was far beyond caring as he lost himself in her kiss. Her lips were so soft, her body undulating under his as she moaned into his mouth and opened to him. He plundered her with his tongue, cautious at first but then giving himself over to the exhilaration of exploration.

He felt her startle inside her mind when she became aware of his length, pressing into her leg despite his best efforts to stay back from her. He drew back slightly, an apology forming on his lips, waiting to see if she would show any negative reaction, but other than a shiver running up her spine and surprise at his very evident desire, the Doctor realized she was far from being intimidated by him. Much to his delight, even as he was searching her mind, she pursued him and claimed his lips again.

Kissing her ardently, the Doctor was still reeling at how he could have lost so much control he had let his physical arousal manifest in their metaphysical plane. He tried to remind himself this was primarily happening only in their minds – the reality of the sensation was so overwhelming he found it difficult to believe they weren't embracing for real – until he felt Jack's mental nudge and disengaged himself psychically for just a moment to tune back in to the actual physical world of the TARDIS' convalescence room.

Then it was his turn to startle as he realized what Jack's dry laugh told him the time agent had been aware of all along: Donna's body was entwined with the Doctor's, and he wasn't wearing any more clothes in the real world than he was in the dream memory world. He froze for a moment but then Donna's lips moved under his again and all sensibility of that reality dissipated like wisps of smoke in the face of how much more compelling he found their constructed world. He buried down into the blankets with her.

Reluctantly, he pulled back just enough so she could take a breath. His hearts soared to feel her fingers tangle in his hair, as possessive as his lips that now lingered just below her earlobe, he was unable to stop tasting her. She pulled him closer and he obliged, resting some of his weight on her body and allowing himself to be okay with how urgently his length pressed against her, and how spectacularly good it felt. Nibbling the delicate skin of her throat and clavicle he felt intoxicated; her small cries of delight enrapturing him and encouraging further exploration. His hand moved higher to graze her ribs until his fingers gently brushed against the underside of her breast.

Her moans increased in pitch and Jack halted their progress, lifting up a little to meet her eyes. Wondering why he had stopped them, the Doctor reached out to see himself through Donna's eyes. Inside her mind her felt how she would get lost in sensation just as he had done, almost overwhelmingly so, but her momentary qualms abated the instant she opened her eyes and focused on his shadowy profile. Recognition gave her the solace she was apparently seeking and he felt her emotions resonate as clear as a bell inside his head: as long as she was with the Doctor she was safe, everything was all right.

5


	13. Chapter 13

The Doctor nuzzled into Donna's neck, enjoying drowning his senses in the woman underneath him, reveling in her sighs of happiness, and making quite a few of his own. Under his gentle fingertips her body was responding to him in all sorts of ways that he very much wanted to further explore, especially when her hands moved over his back, sneaking under the loose tails of his shirt and causing all kinds of incredible sensations across his skin.

But on some level he was aware they were off-track and it was on that plane that Jack's persistent stirrings in his mind finally reached him. Reluctantly, the Doctor dragged his attention back to the other man.

_I'm supposed to be reassuring her right now, you know. _Jack's tone was somewhere between amazement and a smirk.

_Reassuring her about what?_

_Yes, my point exactly. Reassuring her that she was doing okay, that she would be okay, that I knew she was thinking and worrying about you and that was okay too. No matter what I said, she started to cry anyway._

_She cried?_ The thought of it tore at the Doctor's hearts and he clutched Donna tighter against him.

_A little, yeah,_ Jack admitted. _But not this time. She's fine._

_More than fine,_ the Doctor echoed in wonder as he looked down at her and reached out to sweep tendrils of hair back from her eyes. Her pupils were dilated and she was breathless as she regarded him in turn.

_We're still okay for time?_

_Yes, Jack, we have time. Her vitals are strong. What do you want to do?_

_I think we should get back closer to how it was when I was with her._

_How?_

_Well, for starters, Doctor, lose the underwear._

He gulped. _Hers or mine?_

_Both._ Jack's tone brooked no argument.

Before he could think better of it, the Doctor murmured to Donna that he was going to remove his shorts. Her eyes grew round but she nodded in assent and he quickly moved his hands to his underwear. Then her hands closed over his and he froze. Their eyes locked, mutual shock reflected in both their expressions. Very slowly, she glided her hands over his then slid her fingers under the waistband of his shorts.

The Doctor lifted his hands away, transfixed by this new development. Inside his head, Jack was holding his breath too. Smoothly, keeping her eyes on his, Donna drew down his underwear, pausing only momentarily to negotiate around the evident bulge in front. The Doctor's eyes fluttered closed, overwhelmed by this show of trust and confidence in him. But it was even more than that, it was her compassion demonstrated as she made herself complicit in what they were doing. By undressing him, she claimed agency rather than passivity. The swirl of these thoughts combined with the seductively slow pace of her actions caused a thrill of excitement to shudder through the Doctor's body and he reached blindly for Donna once she discarded his shorts, drawing her close and kissing her for all her was worth.

When they came up for air the Doctor kept his eyes on Donna's face. She still looked relatively composed, still flushed, the light of adventure shining in her eyes.

Now what? he inquired of Jack when he could think straight again.

_Now hers. Then you move in between her legs..and, uh, touch yourself._

_WHAT?_ The Doctor's eyebrows shot up and he felt the blood drain from his face. _Jack, I can't do that!_

_We'll just take it one step at a time,_ Jack soothed, unperturbed.

_Is that what you did…but why would you…never mind, I don't want to know, do I?_

_Don't judge, Doctor, we thought we'd be going all the way, to save your skinny ass too, remember?_

At the bite of tension in Jack's words, the Doctor wisely shut up. He knew the Captain was rankling at any accusation of mistreating Donna, the Doctor could feel the other man's fierce protectiveness of her and he was grateful for it.

The Doctor returned to snuggle with Donna, peppering her face with featherlight kisses until her arms entwined around his neck and pulled his mouth to hers. They moved together, simply enjoying each other, until he could tell she was no longer thinking too much about the part of his anatomy that kept pressing against her as they held each other.

Following Jack's quiet urging, the Doctor let his hand play down her body, enjoying her squirming with pleasure against him as he trailed goosebumps over the soft skin of her stomach. In time, he let his hand drift lower and move under her skirt. She turned her face into his chest and moaned against his skin, but not in distress. Her hands moved to his shoulders and her fingertips dug into him in movements that were part massage, part pulling him closer. He loved how responsive she was, it made things easier for him to know she was still with him, even as his careful monitoring of her perspective on the unfolding events reassured him too.

Still slowly, he skimmed his palm up her leg, discovering how much pressure she liked and simply caressing until she finally let her legs part for him and let his fingertips dip gently into the incredibly smooth skin of her inner thighs. Her gentle fingers stroked along his jaw, guiding his mouth back to hers.

They kissed deeply while he laid his hand between her legs, heeding Jack's direction not to go higher for now, feeling the radiating warmth of her center only inches from his fingers. He sat up a little and then kissed his way down her body, attentive to every sigh and moan she uttered. He used his other hand to lift her blouse enough for him to mouth soft kisses on her stomach and felt her giggle delightedly at the tingling sensations he left in his wake.

Still moving painstakingly slowly, he maneuvered himself between her legs. Her giggling stopped, anticipation catching her breath. The Doctor braced himself above her now, watching her take a deep breath, her eyes wider than ever, he allowed his instincts to take over, returning to threading his fingers in her hair with gentleness and claiming her lips once more.

They were both lost in the intimacy and the heat building between them when suddenly Donna gasped, breaking off their kiss. Shifting to feel things from her perspective the Doctor realized she was focused on his length, bobbing insistently against her inner thigh, damp with his arousal. He stilled.

_It couldn't have been that, could it? _Jack inquired. _My…fluid, on her skin?_

The Doctor blinked. He was grateful to Jack for breaking his paralysis and allowing his mind to go down a much safer avenue of thought than what the feeling of himself between Donna's legs was doing to him. Or to her.

_I don't think so… _he answered Jack. But even as he said it he felt a twinge akin to the feeling he had felt earlier. If the exposure was through her skin it would make sense of the ever increasing readings, but he had scanned Jack endlessly – it was nothing in the Captain's body that was having this effect on Donna. He shook his head to try to clear it, unable to tell if these niggling twinges were clues or overspill emotions from the stark intimacy with the woman he loved.

Donna fisted her hand in his shirt possessively.

"Doing okay?" he whispered.

She nodded but as he hovered above her even in the dim light he could see her eyes moisten slightly. She opened her mouth to say something but then closed it again when no words came.

He sat up a little and Donna drew in a long shuddery breath. As she watched him, the Doctor felt trust and trepidation war within her.

He took her free hand in his for a moment and brought it to his lips. "I'm here," he whispered, not knowing why he said it, just that it seemed to be what she needed to hear the most right then. He felt her relax a little more and they shared a soft smile.

_Okay then, let's keep going, _Jack encouraged and the Doctor marveled at how composed the other man sounded. The Time Lord was having trouble keeping anything straight he was so intoxicated by Donna's closeness and all the emotions running through them both.

"I have an idea," Jack whispered in the Doctor's voice, quiet but confident.

Jack's hand slowly smoothed down her leg, stroking, reassuring and taking charge. Strong and sure hands massaged her inner thighs now. Following Jack's lead, the Doctor knelt down and placed a gentle kiss on Donna's knee, keeping his eyes on her face, noting when her eyebrows shot up. At the same time, his fingers worked into the muscles all around the underside of her thighs, moving in time with his lips as he continued kissing her legs.

Jack uttered an appreciative moan, which Donna answered with an involuntary squeak. The Doctor opened his mouth and let Jack speak through him again.

"Relax, my love, no reason why we can't have a little fun…we'll take all the time you need, Donna."

His voice was almost hypnotically calming. His hands caressed her in intimate massage, trying to soothe her tensed muscles. The Doctor could feel Donna's conflicted emotions as if they were his own, embarrassment, warmth, gratitude, unexpected pleasure, and an undercurrent of fear every time she reminded herself they were being watched.

Jack raised him up on his arms, his arousal bobbing against her other thigh now, causing her to squirm. His strong hands lifted her knees further apart, his long fingers wrapping around her trembling thighs firmly. Too firmly. The Doctor felt the first licks of intimidation at the edges of her mind and relaxed his grip immediately.

_I can't go further while she's still wearing her knickers, Doctor._

The Doctor sighed mentally. He had hoped they could have worked this out by now and not have had to go this far. Guilt ate at him that they could have had their answer by now if he wasn't having such a difficult time focusing.

With a tender shushing noise, his hands skirted lightly up to her hips and he hooked his fingers into the waistband of Donna's underwear as unassumingly as he could manage. The flushed heat of her skin under his gentle hands was nearly his undoing.

"Oh," she stuttered, realizing what he wanted. He watched her, an apology in his eyes as she swallowed nervously and tried to keep her skirt pushed down.

The Doctor froze in pained indecision. He could feel the softness of Donna's thigh under his hand, could feel her quiver in anticipation of his next move.

_You are making it worse for her the longer you drag it out._

Reluctantly acknowledging the truth of the Captain's words, the Doctor readjusted his body so he could move under her skirt without rucking it up too high then he released his body once more to Jack's control.

Silently begging her not to fight him, he let Jack move his hands as they resumed their quest. With the utmost tenderness, he drew down her underwear until the smallest whimper escaped Donna's lips.

The Doctor stopped breathing. The fragility in her cry, the warmth of her trembling skin under his hand, her mind projecting her myriad emotions in response to his touch and her increasingly tenuous grasp on the reality of what was happening – suddenly **he** was the one who was disoriented, almost dizzy. He sat up abruptly, stopping Jack before he could discard her underwear completely.

"It's all right, I'm taking care of this." His words were directed at Donna but the Doctor felt Jack's meaning as the Captain tried to move through him again.

_There's something, Jack…_ The Doctor struggled to concentrate, staring at Donna's legs, his eyes becoming unfocused as his brain whirled. His fingers still wrapped in the delicate fabric of her knickers.

He moved lower on the platform bed and rearranged the blankets so that the two of them were a little less cocooned and he had more light to see her by.

_Doctor, what is it? Do you see something? _Jack waited patiently but the Doctor couldn't summon enough coherence to articulate a response.

Jack mentally cleared his throat. _Have you never seen a woman's legs before? I'll grant you these are a spectacular pair but if you just sit there and stare at them—_

_Shhh_

The Doctor looked to Donna, his hand still holding her knickers at her ankles. She gazed back at him, wide-eyed, and pushed her skirt back down further over her knees; she couldn't help it, she felt exposed enough as it was. Jack harrumphed quietly.

Sighing inwardly and letting go of whatever connection his brain was trying to put together, the Doctor resumed removing her knickers completely, the disturbance brushing against his mind again as he slipped them over her bare feet.

There was a sudden uncomfortable squirmy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Her feet.

Her bare feet.

Donna had undone his Converse laces with infinite care, but she herself was barefoot.

_**Jack!**_ The urgency in his voice wasn't lost on the Captain who stood to attention.

"Shoes," he managed, his thoughts spiraling, processing a mile a minute.

"Doctor?" Donna sat up and put a hand on his arm.

"Where are your shoes?" he ground out.

"They made me take them off, remember? Right before they marched us in here. You nearly knocked their block off when they tried to get them off me themselves."

"So it was critical you were barefoot. Ohhhhh, Donna! Jack! I'm THICK. It was so obvious all along – I even noticed when you came out, you looked so small next to Jack and it was because you had no shoes on!"

Donna blinked at him, looking completely confused but Jack was bouncing and whooping inside his head. The Doctor couldn't suppress a wide grin.

"Donna, think, when your shoes were off, did you step on anything wet?"

She looked at him like he had gone quite mad, but then shrugged and bit in her lip in concentration. "Yeah, the mats on the way in here were all squelchy." She shuddered at the memory and then yelped in surprise as the Doctor engulfed her in a huge bear hug.

"Oh I'm thick," he exclaimed again. "Thickety thick _thick!_ Pan-xenoculturally brides are often considered lightning rods for bad luck…possession…spirit intrusion…wreaking havoc…thousands of years, hundreds of races, including your own, develop some sort of ancientry or tradition to thwart the malevolence—"

"You what?" Donna gaped at him. "Bride? Evil spirits? What are you on about?"

"Thresholds, Donna, thresholds!" He fisted his hands in his hair, his eyes wild, then suddenly grabbed her arms. "Brides considered especially vulnerable to misfortune…"

She shook him off and waved a warning finger in his face.

"Translate, now, Spaceman, you're talking gibberish."

He paused to take a breath and beamed at her, barely nodding in acknowledgement as Jack disentangled from their minds and left them alone to go get some soap and water to wash Donna's feet.

"What does a groom do with his new bride on Earth, Donna?"

"Um…beside the obvious? Do these geezers think I am your bride or something? Is this like a consummation?"

"Before that, right before that. He takes her into his household, but to protect against misfortune – or any dangerous spirits she may bring into their home, he –"

"—carries her over the threshold," she finished for him and impulsively he hugged her again.

"You're brilliant, Donna Noble, brilliant!"

"But you didn't…carry me in here, I mean. If that was a big part of their ritual wouldn't they have demanded it?"

"No because this was _before_…this place, this cavern, this primitive society…for all we know this is where the mythology originated—all urban legends have a grain of truth and all. This is _why_ grooms carry brides over the threshold: to protect them from what, through the tides of time, became understood as spirit intrusion or possession – an evil that enters your body through your feet and wreaks havoc."

He trailed off as he heard Jack's voice, as if from underwater, calling to him from the TARDIS.

"_It's working! The levels are finally dropping, Doctor! I think I got it all off!"_

The Doctor's mouth closed with an audible click. All the energy drained out of him and he breathed out. Unbidden tears splashed onto his cheeks, surprising him even more than they did Donna who gasped and immediately went up on her knees to take him into her arms.

"Oh Doctor, it's all right. We'll make it through this, you'll see, it's okay."

She cradled his head to her chest and he hid his face for a moment until he was sure no more traitorous tears would betray him. He wrapped his arms around her middle and just held on, reveling in her warmth, her strong heartbeat, her softness and her heady scent. He had her, they had saved her.

And, as it slowly began to dawn on him, he was stark naked in bed with her.

7


	14. Chapter 14

**Still has one more chapter to go, but more of an epilogue really as this chapter ends with the image that started me writing the bulk of this story. Your comments and reviews mean the world to me.**

The Doctor clung to Donna for a few minutes, not yet trusting himself to move, or think. He had come so close to losing her and as the fear and tension slowly drained it was all he could do just to hold her.

Finally he felt her hand come up to his head, smoothing his hair back and very lightly scratching her fingernails across his scalp. It was inexplicably soothing and he sighed against her body.

"Doctor? Is something wrong?" she whispered uncertainly.

"Um, I should probably explain," he began and then halted. Was this the right time to come clean with her about where they really were and what was going on? He tried it out in his mind _Donna, we're on the TARDIS, not an alien cave, there is nothing and no one forcing us to have sex, but there were all these crazy sedating drugs in your body so now we are in your mind – our minds – playing this out, to save your life, except it isn't just in our minds because I really did just get naked apparently ohandbythewayJack'sheretoo_. Hmm, maybe not.

His mind was overcrowded with everything that had happened, he couldn't calculate with any certainty how much Donna would remember of what had passed between them here tonight. It could easily be processed by her mind as merely a dream and thus fade quickly from conscious recollection after she woke up: especially as everything up to that point had occurred while the sedative cocktail had been at its height in her system.

"What do you want to explain, Doctor?" she prodded gently, her hands stroking his hair so gently it sent tingles down his spine. He looked up into her eyes, seeing so much concern there.

"Not the right time," he managed, "later…"

"Oh." The Doctor felt how she was sizing him up, wondering if he would start to cry again, and deeply perplexed about what had suddenly set him off. Reluctantly, he straightened up but then sat down quickly when he had pulled away from Donna enough that the cool air hit his private parts, reminding him of his state of undress.

Her lips quirked slightly and she gave him a warm smile, hoping to reassure him. He still had direct access to everything she was thinking and feeling and with a tinge of regret the Doctor acknowledged he would have to withdraw from her mind now, there was no more reason to see things through her perspective and feel what she felt. He swallowed. He couldn't bear to let her go, not just yet. Besides, he'd need some level of connection to maintain this illusion with her of being in the cavern. He reached out and gripped her shoulders, unspeakably shaken at the thought of letting her go.

She tilted her head a little then brought her hands up to cover his. "Should we continue?" she asked in confusion. Her eyes traveled around the cavern. The Doctor could feel her fear of the nonexistent audience, tinged with her characteristic indignation. She'd like to whallop them all, she thought, and laughter bubbled up inside him.

She jumped at his sudden snort of laughter and looked back at him with even more conviction in her eyes now that he was losing it. She was right, he mused, hysteria was not far behind the cascading relief that had overtaken his mind.

He felt Jack hovering now, at their bedside. When he concentrated, the Doctor could feel the man's warm hand on his shoulder, steadying him. His solid presence helped the Doctor keep the hysteria at bay, for now.

_Doctor? Should we wake her? What should we do?_

_No, better to let her stay unconscious until she wakes naturally. I'll stay with her._

There was a pregnant pause. _Stay there? In the cavern? It's just…Doctor, she still thinks she's being watched and in fear for her life._

The Doctor shifted his attention back to the woman sitting in bed with him, her blue eyes tracking his every move. He hugged her impulsively.

"Donna, you don't have to, not anymore," he stopped when a wave of disappointment came over him that their pretext for intimacy was completely gone. "And I should, um, find my shorts, I think."

"What?" She was beyond perplexed now.

"I…um…I can feel the people watching us, they got enough, they think we're done, they've moved on." He had to at least free her from the pressure of being watched, he knew. If nothing else it wasn't fair to keep her on edge from the imagined voyeurs.

"They aren't there anymore?" Donna was looking around her now. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." He palmed her cheek, surprised to note how cold she was to the touch. He turned her gently to face him. "They are gone, completely. You have nothing to fear, not from anyone, we are safe."

Her eyes searched his, her heartbeat thudding in her ears louder than ever now. She lifted a trembling hand to his chest and he took it in his, his grip strong, causing her stomach to do another slow flip.

"So…that's it?"

He nodded. Her eyes still looked worried.

"It feels…unfinished. Oh I guess I shouldn't say that too loud, huh?" She pressed her fingers to her own lips.

He gently removed her hand and held it between his own. "Long gone," he promised. She was trembling still, he noted, and her hands were chilled. He pulled the blanket around their shoulders and nestled her in close to his chest.

"I know, it's strange," he stage whispered, "sometimes alien cultures concept of physical intimacy is so different from ours they mistake it for just the lead up."

She shrugged. "Maybe we just took so flippin' long they got bored!"

He tilted his head back in laughter. "Maybe so, Donna. Don't worry anymore, all right?"

She hugged him and he held her close, his eyes closing and his hearts soaring. He had draped a pillow strategically over his otherwise exposed manhood. The pillow shifted as she cuddled into him but she held him close anyway, undaunted. Her confidence in him filled him with happiness.

Then she sat up and his face fell. "Where are you going?"

"To get out of here! Show's over, right?"

"Oh." The Doctor hadn't thought this far ahead. He tried to run mental calculations on how quickly the sedatives could dissipate and if the stimulants were still in her system, but time was flowing on too slanted a differential inside their minds and the human body's reactions to so many strong psychoactive medications could be unpredictable at best.

"Did they turn the heat off or something when they left? It's bloody freezin' in 'ere!" Her teeth were chattering now. The Doctor sat up abruptly.

_Jack._

_Don't panic, Doctor, the readings say her body temperature is dropping as the chemicals leave her bloodstream, but not dangerously so._

_Hit the red button on the center lower console three times, Captain._

_Done. What's that do?_

_Activates the bed's heating elements, like an electric blanket for hypothermia._

_Okay, you'll need to get her to lie down then, she's sitting bolt upright like a sleep walker._

_Oh._

_Doctor? Should I leave you two alone? If you're about to get horizontal? _

The Doctor could hear Jack's almost hopeful leer in his tone but he also didn't miss the slight twinge of rejection the Captain was trying to conceal. But the Doctor was adrift, he didn't know how to answer the other man to express how grateful he was to him, much less how to entreat the nervous woman he loved to lie down with him when he had just told her the danger had passed and all she wanted to do was get out of there. At the very least, he should get his underwear back on before she awoke to find herself entwined with more of him than she wanted.

Before he could stop himself he heard the echo of her accusation that he just wanted to mate – so many long nights in the TARDIS wanting to go to her, to join her in her bedroom, to comfort her at night, or seek comfort himself, only to hear those words in his mind, only to worry that she didn't want him, that he would scare her away and she'd leave him.

_Woah, holy angstfest batman! Chill. The lady wants you, Doctor, I think we established that and then some!_

The Doctor grimaced in embarrassment. He had forgotten Jack was still connected to him and everything they were thinking. But before he could formulate a retort, Donna lifted her hand to her head. Instantly all his focus swung back to her.

"Okay, Donna?"

"Just dizzy. Let's _allons-y_ the heck outta this place, Doctor, I'm cold." She began a half-hearted search in the bed, stopping every now and then when another wave of dizziness blurred her vision.

Watching her helplessly the Doctor called back to the man who had held him together throughout this whole insane experience.

"I'm here. Take a breath, Doctor, it's going to be fine." Then Jack was sliding back into bed with them as easily as he slipped under the Doctor's skin. He didn't say anything as he pulled his shorts back on while Donna studiously looked away. Then he helped Donna retrieve her underwear.

When she had shuffled discreetly back into her knickers he finally spoke, his hand on her arm staying her from sliding down from their platform bed.

"Did I… was it too much? Did I scare you, Donna?"

Donna caught her breath. The Doctor felt how moved she was by his tenderness and vulnerability. "No, I wasn't scared – you were lovely, just perfect, don't worry, okay, Doctor?"

He caught her hand. "Donna, it was my honor." The Doctor felt the echo in his mind that he had begun to realize indicated that Jack was repeating words and actions from his first time in here. As there was no longer any necessity to repeat their previous experience, the Doctor wondered why this particular exchange held significance for Jack but decided he shouldn't pry.

She blushed and pushed him away, but then caught his hand. "Next thing you'll be saying that nonsense again about me being beautiful, you daft git!" Her cheeks pinked further. "We need to skidaddle out of here, before those lopey goons come back for more!" She shuddered then, despite her light tone, and Jack reached for her to pull her into his arms.

The Doctor gasped to feel Donna's sudden longing to be held by him as her residual worry that she would have disappointed him began to finally fade from her mind. He was glad then that he had let this exchange play out and reluctantly admitted to himself that maybe there were some things Jack understood about women better than he did.

"Donna, I need you to stay with me here, I promise you we are completely safe, and as soon as we can, we'll be home again, quick as a flash," Jack continued smoothly.

"All of us? Captain Jack too?"

Jack swallowed a sudden swell of emotion. "Yes, the Captain too," he answered her with the Doctor's voice. "But right now I need you to rest here with me, you're shivering, let me hold you and wrap you in some blankets, get you warmed up."

She looked at him as if readying to argue some more for storming the door and making a run for it but then she swayed in his arms and had to allow him to guide her down to the bed. He cocooned her in blankets and pillows.

She turned into him with a quiet moan and bumped against the evidence of his arousal he had been better at hiding up until that point. The Doctor and Jack together sucked in a breath at the sensations she had inadvertently caused.

"Oh," she exclaimed. "Sorry!"

It was Jack who recovered first, reaching out to keep Donna from backing out of their embrace and reassuring her she had nothing to be sorry for with just the tiniest wink slipping out before the Doctor could stop him.

"But…you don't want…we aren't going to…no more perving aliens?" she stuttered.

"We won't be entertaining any more aliens, no…well, unless you count this one."

_Jack!_ The Doctor was horrified at the words coming out of his own mouth. Jack receded a few mental steps with a lascivious grin, letting the Doctor take charge again.

The Doctor was most relieved to see Donna was smiling up at him. "That was just a joke," he mumbled, "a bad one."

"S'okay, Doctor." She reached up and gave him a peck on the cheek.

He relaxed a little but still sent Jack a mental glare.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to ever again, Donna." He spoke seriously. "I'm sorry we got you into this."

"We got into this together, I'm not going to turn around and blame you, silly Spaceman." She ruffled his hair then wriggled closer, causing him to suck in air as this time she quite deliberately pressed up against him. "But if we'd never have gotten into this, I would never have found out so many things," she continued, her eyes holding his.

Even as he could feel her fight off a dizzying jumble of emotions, she looked down at his body and then up again to his eyes. The urge to kiss her almost overwhelmed him. (Probably in part because Jack was urging him on too.)

"You didn't want this, though," it was more a question than a statement. He shook himself slightly as he felt her fight to keep her eyes open. "It's okay, Donna, you can rest, are you warm enough?"

"Mmmm," she hummed contentedly and closed her eyes, burying her face against his neck. He sensed her surprise at how mysteriously warm and cosy it was to snuggle with him in a room that had previously felt so austere and foreboding.

"It feels like you are all around me," she whispered, her breath tickling his chest.

_Might have something to do with me,_ Jack murmured with a smile. _Her temperature is normal again, by the way._

"And you are wrong, you know," she added. He looked down at her in confusion. She blinked as if trying to clear her thoughts, he could feel her tiredness warring with her need to not let this moment pass. She bunched her hands in the tails of his shirt and drew his mouth down to hers. The Doctor and Jack stopped breathing.

"When you said that I didn't want this. That's rubbish. I could do without the audience but I do…want you…"

She kissed him deeply, her hands moving to caress his chest with more than the impossibly gentle pressure she had touched him with before, her fingers exploring with more sure movements now.

"Nnnnhfmmgh," the Doctor groaned against her mouth in total surrender. He kissed her back for all he was worth, grasping her close, lost in her embrace.

There was a light in her eyes as she finally released him – a light that held promises of much more to come. He tried for a dignified, reassuring smile in return but ended up grinning at her inanely. She chuckled softly.

Then despite herself, Donna let her head drop on his chest once more and the intensifying waves of vertigo lulled her down into a place beyond consciousness. His mind still reeling, the Doctor simply held her. Jack wisely stayed silent.

And so it came to pass that Donna woke up on the TARDIS, in a bed sandwiched between Jack and the Doctor, who were wearing the biggest grins of relief and happiness and not much else.

7


	15. Chapter 15

**Very grateful thank-yous to lj user="kgriess" for proofing :) Acknowledgements to Ember, Carol R. and Ember, Melvin. "Encyclopedia of Medical Anthropology" Springer, 2004 and several psychopharmacology classes/NIH articles on the comorbidity of benzodiazepines with barbiturates.**

**Many apologies for the delay in this chapter coming out.**

Donna couldn't stay conscious for more than a few glancing seconds at first, slipping back under almost as soon as she had opened her eyes. She had barely had time to register that Jack and the Doctor were nestled in beside her and to hear the soothing thrum of the TARDIS all around them before her thoughts resumed that disjointed flow where everything made perfect sense in dream logic and yet nothing did at all.

She let go of the image of the men in bed with her (and all attendant very confusing feelings that went along with it) she would figure that out later, she was just glad to be out of that cavern. She had been cold and now she was warm. She had been scared and now she was safe. She snuggled deeper into the Doctor's chest, thinking how thoughtful it was of him to also be cuddling her from behind, wrapped around her securely, banishing all her shivers and confusion. Because she had been confused too, lost somewhere, and now that place was gone and there was only this impossible beautiful man, surrounding her, protecting her, making everything better.

A tiny smile graced her lips and she tightened her hold on him, clinging to this place of warmth and safety and determining not to wake up for as long as possible.

The Doctor was smiling too. Positively beaming in fact. He caught Jack's eye over the top of Donna's head and the other man chuckled quietly.

"Nice to have you back, Doctor," he murmured, his eyes indicating the TARDIS' convalescence room, its dim lighting and soothing background thrumming echoing Jack's sentiments.

"How is she?" he continued, burrowing deeper under the blankets with them.

"Just sleeping." The Doctor squinted a little as he scrutinized the readings on the medical equipment from his position ensconced with Donna and Jack on the bed. "The sedatives will take a while to be completely out of her system…"

He placed the back of his fingers gently against her cheek as his words trailed off.

"Will she be okay now?"

"Yes, eventually. Might have some withdrawal effects, when she wakes it will be like before, just momentary until the sedating chemicals are processed by her body."

"Withdrawal?"

"Hard to predict, but that was a lot of medication, and then you throw in the cocktail we gave her…but it's nothing we can't handle." He glanced at the captain.

Jack nodded somberly. "Maybe a good time for us all to get some sleep?"

The Doctor held his gaze, not missing the hidden question – Jack offering to leave them alone again if he wasn't wanted here. He caught the vulnerability in the other man's eyes before it disappeared behind a small smile.

"I think that's a good idea. Jack, will you stay and help me keep her warm?"

Jack swallowed. "Sure," he replied nonchalantly.

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you," he breathed, his eyes conveying more than he could put into words. Jack nodded again and blinked a few times.

They settled down into a fitful sleep on Jack's part, and a watchful vigil on the Doctor's part.

It was barely an hour later when Donna started to toss and turn. Jack awoke immediately and shared a worried glance with the Doctor. He was pale, Jack noted, anxiety straining the Time Lord's features as he reached for her. Jack shuffled closer to them, trying to soothe Donna too.

"There now, can you hear us Donna? You're safe, sweetheart, the Doctor and I are right here."

The Doctor placed trembling fingertips to her temples again but her movements shook him off. He blanched.

Jack rolled closer and placed his hands on Donna's shoulders. She mumbled something in her sleep that sounded very Donna-like in indignation at being held. Hearing how normal she sounded, even so muffled by sleep, brought the men a measure of control and the Doctor raised his hands again.

Seconds later he released her and Jack lifted his hands too.

"It's okay, Jack, she just thinks she's too—"

"HOT!" exclaimed Donna, opening her eyes and startling both of them. As they stared at her she grumbled some more, mostly incoherently, about being too hot and shoved all the blankets and sheets off her body with broad uncoordinated movements.

Both men jumped back from her flailing arms and shared a chagrinned smile of relief.

Which lasted only about three seconds before Jack saw the Doctor's gaze passing over his body, laid bare by Donna's determined efforts to throw off all their covers.

"Jack! Where are your clothes?"

"You had me turn the electric blanket thing on, I was hot!" he rejoined, not sounding remotely apologetic.

He twisted around and reached over for the red button, giving the Doctor a full body eyeful in the process.

"No, Jack, don't."

"Oh don't be bashful, Doctor, I've already been in your skin all night!" Jack winked. The Doctor ignored it, not even one affectation of piety, Jack noted with interest. Nor did the Time Lord bother trying to avert his gaze.

"I mean the controls, Jack, don't adjust them, her temperature is normal. She's not overheating, the sensations are just phantoms in her mind like the itching – just normal withdrawal as the drugs leave her system."

Jack looked down at Donna, expecting her to argue with the Doctor's assessment but she was once again fast asleep, her hair fanned all over the pillow from her exertions. He reached out to her and stroked errant hairs away from her eyes.

The Doctor cleared his throat. Jack smiled and reached for the blankets again in acquiescence. Satisfied that Donna wasn't in fact running a temperature, he took his time to arrange the covers around all three of them.

The Doctor fussed a little more around her, taking her pulse and eyeing the readouts on the monitor. "Looks like she's doing okay, stabilizing a little slower than I was hoping but the sedating narcotics and benzodiazepines are no longer at dangerous levels. The stimulants have a shorter half-life, so probably they are mostly gone—"

He frowned suddenly and stopped talking mid-sentence.

"Is she okay?" Jack asked, instantly alert.

The Doctor's hands moved over Donna's temples as his eyes slid closed.

Everything smelled of damp and Donna didn't like it one bit. She didn't like what the smell reminded her off, where it took her back to, dragging her down. She squirmed uncomfortably, chill seeping into her bones, hard stone under her body, finding it hard to breathe under the weight of men on top of her. She cried out, or rather tried to, but her voice was stubbornly refusing to actually make a sound in that immensely disturbing way dreams had of stealing breath from your words.

_Shushhh. You are safe, Donna, I'm here, we're here, you are safe, you are home._

Suddenly the Doctor was there and all the tumbling world of the nightmare stilled. His not-voice calmed her not-screams and Donna reached for him with arms that didn't work and a whimper she didn't utter.

Then he was holding her, surrounding her, protecting her, so strong. His litany continued, authoritative, warm, kind…so kind. So much love in his embrace and all around them the crooning lullaby of the TARDIS swept her up and away from the questing undulating fingers trying to grab her back down to the cold, dank cavern.

She awoke with a gasp, air rushing into her lungs and an oppressive heat the very opposite of the cavern's damp chill clinging to her. Donna gave a squawk of protest. She kicked weakly at the blankets and batted away all the arms embracing her.

The men sprang away from her almost immediately, giving her space that just as suddenly she didn't want. Their absence was more suffocating than being wrapped in their arms and although they hadn't gone far from her Donna heard herself whimpering indignantly until they were both at her side again.

She flung her complaints at them even as she cuddled into one and reached blindly for the other. Her words were all jumbled up but she gave 'em hell anyway. They were hers, they were supposed to be, that was just how it was and always should be. She muttered a final _hrmph_ and when she heard one of them chuckling she tried to take a swing at him. But her muscles wouldn't cooperate and her hand fell uselessly on his bare chest. Undaunted, Donna formed the best fist she could and beat at him, his chuckling even louder now. Hands touched her, token attempts to stop her progress, she shook them off and flapped at them, trying to will her muscles to cooperate until she finally heard a yelp and knew she had hit home.

Strong fingers carefully encircled her wrist as quiet words of calm fell from soft lips that tickled her earlobe. The man behind her moved more on top of her, his weight pining down her efforts to get free and sending the most unexpected but delicious bolt of arousal through her.

Donna grunted and upped her struggles, wriggling back against the man above her, against his own obvious arousal and hearing him squeak in surprise and suck in a breath in response. She smiled to herself a little smugly, her two men were trying desperately (and failing) not to writhe under her and over her and neither one was chuckling anymore.

"Geroff," she fussed at him with no real conviction, he was wiry, lithe and yet so solid, and he smelled so good. She batted continually at the man beneath her. He kept trying to grab for her hands but then would let her go again when she resisted him. Pussycat, he was acting like she was fragile, Donna Noble was anything but fragile.

"Wussycat," she snarked at him and was rewarded with a rumble of laughter from both of them that reverberated through their bodies into hers and somehow went straight to fuel the building tension between her legs. She sighed with the sweetness of the ache coalescing inside her then pushed hard, trying to throw them off and pull them closer at the same time.

Then the one above pressed his mouth to her throat just under her ear and she froze as sparks of pleasure trickled across her skin…_oohhh just there._ She moaned and tried again to free herself. He was hushing her now, so much gentleness in his voice, his arms over hers trapping her within him, his lips working their way up to her ear again as she squirmed. The entire length of his body pressed into hers, restraining her writhing, and pushing her down onto the more solid man beneath her, sending spikes of electricity to all her pleasure centers. She cried out with the exquisite frustration of it all. It left her more disoriented than ever, all she knew was that they were hers and she wanted them so badly it almost hurt.

The man on whom she lay was breathing hard, making little noises in his throat. Donna took advantage of his distracted state and how with her crying out the man above her had shifted some of his weight off her. Even with limited range of motion she landed another solid thwap to his chest of the man underneath and he muttered a soft curse then took her hands in his large ones and this time wouldn't let her go. She frowned and bit her lip in concentration but try as she might she couldn't free herself; he was strong yet his grip was still careful not to hurt her.

The murmuring voice in her ear… or was it her head…started up again, much clearer now. He was asking her to relax, shushing her frustrations, promising relief in time, swearing by the sun and several moons that they weren't going to hurt her, that they would never hurt her.

_I know that, you prawn,_ she replied scornfully. In answer the voice in her head seemed to grin widely but voices couldn't grin so she must still be confused.

_Stop fighting us, Donna, please, you are going to hurt yourself, we need you to calm down, love._

It was the man underneath her now, also in her head, his voice deeper, almost sultry. She blew out a breath in defiance and wriggled some more, earning her some more breathless gasps from them. Then she paused as the first one spoke again. His words ran together in her mind as her tenuous grasp on consciousness began to recede, but the love and anguish in his heart was unmistakable. Donna felt her body relax despite herself.

The combined tenderness of the mouth at her ear and the gentleness of the hands covering hers, sometimes stroking her wrists, stayed Donna's efforts to whallop them anymore. Sighing, she instead splayed her fingers out into the chest hair of the one who was half underneath her. He stilled, his hold on her loosening. It was really a rather nice chest, she could feel the muscles play under her palm as she slid her hand down, following the trail of soft hair past his belly button until she heard him emit a satisfyingly startled gasp.

They were in her head and now she was in theirs and she knew what they wanted, oh she knew.

Her hand startled to move again and the man underneath emitted a strangled noise of delight. Just then she felt other hands on her, lifting her up and away from him, turning her over to face the man above. She tried to protest but her body had gone limp and if it wasn't for the four strong arms supporting her she was certain she would have slid right off the bed.

The man above clutched her to him for a long moment. She felt his emotions as if they were her own, ricocheting in her head until she knew she would pass out from the sheer intensity of everything he felt for her. Sensing her growing distress for him, he laid her back down as the man below guided her to lie in his arms, holding her close, holding her together.

He croaked her name, a plea, then two voices were calling to her and she grumbled in response, nonsensical syllables conveying everything and nothing as she gathered the last of her strength and pulled the other one down on top of her, registering wide brown eyes and an alarmed mop of brown hair just before she brought his lips to hers.

Donna's last waking thought was the astonishing certainty of how very right it felt to kiss this man, his lips on hers so hungry, her desire for him overwhelming. Then she drifted back down to float on the humming waves the TARDIS supplied for her mind, the ship's soothing cadence holding her at a lull, not letting her fall again into the depths of the cold cavern below.


	16. Chapter 16

**Very grateful thank-yous to Kristy for proofing. Thank you to those of you who have stuck with me so far. The next (and last) chapter is done and will be up tomorrow. **

**Any follow ups will likely be too sexually explicit for but you can find me over on livejournal with the username Sykira.**

lj-cut text=" thaw"

The Doctor fell back on the pillows, panting for breath, completely stunned and turned on beyond all belief.

Donna moaned in her sleep and shifted against him. The sound combined with the movement sent another jolt of arousal from the roots of his hair to the tips of his toes. He gasped. The fullness of his length had never dissipated from their mental activity in the cavern and was now almost painfully engorged. It had been so long for him he could feel the last shreds of his control deteriorate. He undulated against her, shivering with pleasure when she murmured his name.

Jack cleared his throat. The Doctor blinked, trying to come back to himself. He slowly became aware of the other man, half-wedged under Donna from when they had both been trying to restrain her. She had woken up in such a state and had all but clobbered the Captain as he was trying to calm her. Now he was underneath her sleeping form and not looking too upset about that fact.

The Doctor rubbed a hand over his face, trying to focus. No, Jack was not upset at all, downright pleased as it turned out. He was smirking lazily, his eyes drifting over the Doctor's body as they both lay entangled with Donna.

Surprisingly, the Doctor felt his body respond with another stirring of lust. After the events that had led them here he supposed he shouldn't be surprised really. He had come to trust Jack implicitly, and more than that, to let the other man take the lead – he had been forced by circumstances to do so in order to help Donna and he was still amazed that he had been able to submit in the first place and that Jack had been such a strong and steady leader. And now here they were, on the edge of exhaustion, strung out on adrenalin, scantily clad and tangled up in bed with the woman he loved.

He coughed abruptly and fisted his free hand in his hair; his other hand was wrapped securely around Donna's body as she snuggled against him. Jack was still looking at him, surprise in his eyes. Right. He was supposed to be berating the Captain not hesitating… but the Doctor's usual defenses were lowered and he was open to all sorts of ideas he thought he had laid to rest with Koschei several lifetimes ago.

Knowing what he would find before he even looked, the Doctor shifted his gaze from Jack's crystal clear blue eyes to look down at their bodies. He took in what the other man saw as he gazed at him: his evident arousal strained against the thin cotton boxer shorts he had so hastily pulled on back in the cave.

He looked up to meet Jack's eyes again and without quite meaning to, his senses still overloaded from wrestling with Donna, the Doctor let his eyelids lower just a touch and his tongue dart out to wet his bottom lip.

If he had thought being manhandled by Donna Noble was erotic, Jack had no words left for the looks her Time Lord was now giving him over her pliant sleeping form.

The Doctor's eyes were dark with lust, darker than Jack had ever seen them, and the expression in them made his knees go weak. He had expected the Doctor to retreat to his usual propriety and feign shock and distaste for Jack's leering. He was unprepared instead to get as good as he gave – could it be the emotional turmoil and charged sexual energy of the day had lowered the Time Lord's usual inhibitions?

"Doctor?" he whispered hoarsely. He had meant to sound challenging, daring the other man to take the next step. But instead Jack was just so flabbergasted he simply sounded dazed. It didn't help that Jack could still feel the ghost of Donna's hand where she had trailed it so deliciously down his chest, exploring lower until the Doctor had lifted her off him.

The other man's bangs had fallen over his eyes as he regarded Jack. He slowly and deliberately moved his hand slowly down Donna's prone body, the expression in his eyes now darkly possessive. Despite himself, Jack had to look away for a moment, the intensity so powerful. Then his wandering eyes were drawn irresistibly back to the immense bulge in the Doctor's underwear.

Jack's skin suffused with heat and he swallowed hard. He was glad he was still mostly covered in now-twisted blankets and sheets, and yet the Time Lord's gaze was so potent he felt stripped. Damnit, how long had he waited for an opportunity like this? He had _known_ on a gut level that the Doctor's affectations of innocence and protestations to Jack's flirtations were no more a façade.

Slowly Jack came back to his senses and he rose to the challenge. But he knew he couldn't simply match the Doctor's flirting – oh no, it was not in Jack's level to meet a challenge on the level it was issued, he would rather step up what was in play.

He shifted his hand from his grasp on Donna's wrist that had forestalled her adventures down his body and instead ran his hand slowly up her arm, his palm gliding over her skin.

The Doctor's eyes instantly went to his roving hand and Jack could all but feel his hackles rising as Jack's fingers ventured out along her clavicle, smoothing over her skin as he skimmed leisurely along the lace trim of her nightgown. She sighed softly in her sleep.

The Doctor shifted his hips and narrowed his eyes. Jack returned his hand to Donna's arm, trailing down now to where the Doctor's arm was clutched around her waist. Reflexively, the Doctor pulled her closer to him and she made a small noise as she rolled into his body and off the Captain almost completely.

Jack didn't miss a beat. He slid into the space now behind her body and wrapped his arm around her too, his hand coming to rest on top of the Doctor's, causing the other man to jolt slightly and utter a low growl.

"Shh…" admonished Jack, as Donna stirred again. They both froze as she grumbled at them in her sleep. Jack tightened his fingers over the Doctor's. The other man's eyes bored into his, so dark, his whole body tense. Since Donna had become the focus of their sparring, if you could call it that, the Doctor's lust had been layered with something more. Jack knew his feelings for her went far deeper than the physical and that he was playing in very dangerous territory.

He desperately wanted to grind himself against the sleeping woman, and in so doing press her into the Time Lord's body just to see what the man might do. If Donna had been awake and willing, Jack would have acted on his impulse in a heartbeat.

But instead he made no further move. He had clearly unsettled the Doctor and that would be enough for him tonight – no man out-flirted Captain Jack Harkness.

But neither did he remove his hand from the Doctor's. He relaxed his body back into the pillows and closed his eyes. He could still feel the Doctor's eyes on him and couldn't stop the corners of his mouth curling up.

Jack was never more at ease than when he had the upper hand in flirting, so sleep came easily. He didn't know if the Time Lord ever relaxed his vigil but this time Donna stayed asleep for longer and Jack stayed by her side, at peace.

Her heartbeat pounded in her ears, there was a wetness on her cheeks and coldness tightening her chest and Donna had absolutely no idea why. The Doctor's deep brown eyes were staring into hers as he tried to console her; he looked as helpless as she felt.

"Donna? Donna? Are you all right? Can you hear me? Are you awake?"

She nodded shakily, seeing relief wash over his features. His hand moved to stroke her hair and she closed her eyes, biting back a cry, it felt as if all her nerve endings were singing, she was so oversensitized. She opened her eyes again to see his hand move to her face and a fresh wave of adrenalin made her stomach turn over in what felt like dread.

"Hurts," she managed, her eyes filling with inexplicable tears that spilled down her cheeks.

Pain filled the Doctor's eyes as he gazed at her. "Jack's gone to get you something to help." His hand brushed her tears away and Donna tried not to wince.

"What's wrong with me?" she gasped.

"Withdrawal, I think. It's okay, it will pass, I'll help you through. How do you feel?"

"Scared," she answered immediately without thinking. "And—" _cold_ she wanted to add but her teeth were chattering now. A ripple that felt like razorblades of ice in her veins ran through her body and she whimpered, it was agonizing.

She opened her eyes again when she felt hands on her shoulders, holding her steady. Where were they anyway, was she in bed with him?

"Freeezin'" she gasped. Her skin felt clammy. The Doctor began to rub his hands up and down her arms but immediately the sensation was overwhelming, almost painful. She shied away from him and he stopped, guilt and sorrow marring his expression when she looked at him.

She couldn't stand to see him look like that, no matter how awful she felt. Donna lifted a trembling hand to his chest and he took it in his, his grip strong. She caught her breath as a shiver ran throughout her body.

The Doctor felt his hearts clench. As hard as the ups and downs of withdrawal were for Donna, he hadn't expected the emotional toll it would take on him too. Donna was in so much discomfort and he did not know what to do to help her. It cut him to the bone when his efforts just seemed to hurt her more – she had actually shrank away from his hands.

"Am I scaring you?" he voiced, afraid of the answer, but even more afraid of causing her fear without knowing it.

She swallowed and took a shuddery breath before looking at him directly. He loosened his grasp on her hand but she didn't try to pull away.

"Just…butterflies…" The fingers of her other hand fluttered between them as if to illustrate. "I don't even know why, I'm not frightened, not of you, why would I be?" Her eyebrows knit together in confusion and the Doctor wished he could explain to her that the rivulets of anxiety were only the result of the sedating drugs being processed by her system.

He gently curled his fingers around hers and held her hand close to his hearts. "Donna, would you let me in? See if I could make it hurt a little less?"

She looked confused again so he tilted his head towards hers slowly until their foreheads touched and a look of understanding dawned in her eyes.

Please," she whispered. He sighed in relief and closed his eyes, reaching out to her mind, tentatively, treading softly. He flinched as he felt the landscape so sharp like shards of brittle ice, bleeding waterdrops like tears, dripping icicles down her spine.

He breathed warmth into her mind and suddenly he could see his breath in clouds before him then there she was, standing beside him, her body shivering violently in response. He held out his arms and she came to him but stopped just short of his embrace.

_Don't. Don't try to melt everything, it's all that's holding me together,_ she seemed to say. _ If you do then the ice will shatter and I'll be all broken, I'll drown._ She tilted her head to the side. It didn't make sense in words, more like the logic of delirium but the Doctor nodded soberly, respecting what sense it made to her.

He reached back into the TARDIS (that hadn't been in her dream landscape before and yet was there all along) and flipped something just inside the door. The next moment they were surrounded in snowflakes and he heard her gasp in delight and surprise.

_Oh! _

Within seconds everything was covered in white, softening all the edges, subduing any sound like a white blanket, transforming sharpness to sloping curves. The Doctor felt Donna take deep breaths now that she could, now that he had dulled the heightened sensation to her pain centers and soothed the prostaglandins that had been ravaging her nerve endings.

As the snowfall continued so her pain ebbed. Flurries dancing in the air made her laugh, the only sound in the ethereal whiteness. She grabbed his hands and he laughed too then engulfed her in a bear hug, knowing his touch would no longer bring her pain. She slid her hands around his torso, over his bare skin, seeking his warmth although really she was warmer than him.

She kissed his chest and it was the Doctor's turn to shiver, from the intensity of a different kind of thaw. He felt how her fear had melted away and his gratitude for that made the next words tumble from him before he knew it.

_I love you, Donna._ The words were in his mind and then in hers before he could stop them but she only hugged him tighter and let her answer flow to him.

_I love you too, Spaceman._

His mind went into a tailspin, he could only hold onto her and be grateful they weren't really standing upright or he was sure his knees would give out. As he clutched her to him he felt her breathing even out and she was asleep again, safe inside him.


	17. Chapter 17

ETA: Um *blush* so I didn't realize until I got a comment on here today, on chapter 16, saying I was a tease, and quite right too! For some reason the last chapter of this never went live on here...urgh I am so sorry! Crikey. Well, yes, as I say below, I am better at updating my live journal site, same username (Sykira) if you want to find me there.

**Any follow ups will likely be too sexually explicit for this site (I think? I don't know, I thought we couldn't post R rated stuff here but I see it all the time!) but you can find me over on livejournal with the username Sykira. That is also where I will be posting my next story (probably under friends-lock), not only because it doesn't have a category and because it's NC-17, it is a Beatrice/Benedict follow up to David Tennant and Catherine Tate's Much Ado About Nothing :)**

Jack and the Doctor were startled awake a little while later when Donna suddenly spoke up in the quiet room, speaking conversationally, as if they had been chatting this whole time.

"Bloomin' 'eck, it's hot in here! Where am I?"

Jack recovered first, sitting up quickly and grabbing Donna's hands to halt her progress as she tried to climb out of bed.

"You are Sleeping Beauty in her tower; we are the charming handsome princes here to kiss you awake." Jack punctuated his statement with a kiss to her cheek, smiling to see her look so alert.

"Sod off," she mumbled. "I'm no sleeping beauty."

"Yes you are." He kissed her again, letting his lips linger this time, earning himself a low growl from the Doctor and a slight blush from Donna. He caught the Time Lord's eye and saw no menace behind his growl, only affection.

Donna looked between them. "Tell you what though; I'm done with this sleeping lark. Where am I really?"

"The infirmary, you need some rest." The Doctor stroked her cheek, his hands had never left her body since she had woken in his arms.

"I feel like I've been asleep for flippin' forever. This doesn't look like the infirmary."

"It's a convalescent room." His hand moved to her wrist and surreptitiously took her pulse. "Jack?" he added casually.

"Mmm?"

"Might be a good time to put on some clothes."

Grinning, Jack slipped out of the bed just long enough to find his boxers. The Doctor held Donna's gaze the whole time. His shorts now on, Jack hopped nimbly back into bed.

Donna blinked. "Well, it's boiling in here. I'm going to my room." She made to leave the bed and Jack and the Doctor were instantly at her side. As soon as her feet touched the ground her legs gave out and they caught her easily between them.

"Mmm, déjà vu again," she murmured tiredly, all the fight leaving her.

"Been a lot of that today," Jack said lightly, lifting her back into bed. "Are you all right?" He noticed she was no longer resisting them.

"Dizzy."

"Just a little more sleep, you'll be right as rain," the Doctor put in, smiling brightly at her as he guided her back to the pillows and smoothed back her hair.

She frowned. "I want to go to my bedroom."

The Doctor and Jack looked at each other, then the Doctor did a thorough scan of the readouts from the equipment, cupping his hand around the back of his neck.

"Will you get some rest there? I'm not leaving you alone there either you know."

"I don't want you to leave me alone, either of you." She reached for Jack's hand, making his chest expand with warmth.

"Okay then," the Doctor said, irresolutely. He didn't move.

"Sleepin' Beauty's burning up in this bed, y'know," Donna added with enough of her usual snark that both men had to smile. The Doctor made to gather her up in his arms but she refused him.

"I don't want skinny here doing himself an injury." Her words were light but her tone embarrassed.

"You wouldn't worry about that if you saw him bring you in here, Donna," Jack offered quietly. "How about I carry you?"

"I can walk…mostly," she protested.

They helped her from the bed and half-supported, half-carried her the short distance to her room. She seemed more relaxed immediately but the exertion had tired her out. Jack drew back the covers, staying mostly quiet as he enjoyed the peaceful domesticity of the moment.

Donna allowed the Doctor to lift her easily into her bed with barely a protest but then froze in place.

"I don't know what I remember." She wore a most perturbed frown. Jack and the Doctor shared another look over her head.

The Doctor cleared his throat and fidgeted in place. "We were taken prisoner, Donna, the only way out was to—"

"Oh, I know all that bit," she muttered, her cheeks reddening.

"What's the last thing you can remember?" the Doctor pressed softly. He reached for her but she crawled into the middle of her bed and flopped down, avoiding their eyes.

She was ashamed, Jack realized suddenly, a sinking feeling in his stomach. The act of them taking her to bed was possibly triggering déjà vu.

"We can talk about it later," he suggested gently, "I promise we'll tell you everything you don't remember clearly, okay Donna love?"

She looked at him and nodded. He could read gratitude in her eyes. The Doctor released a breath and set about helping her get comfortable in the bed.

"Better?" the Doctor asked, solicitous over her every move until she shoved his hands away only to grab them again a minute later.

"Still too hot." She brought his palm to her forehead. "See?"

"Your temperature is normal, we don't want you to get chilled again."

"You made it snow!" she said suddenly. "I remember!" Jack wondered if she was hallucinating. Her voice had once again taken on the characteristics of waning lucidity, her articulation effortful and her voice catching with strong emotion.

The Doctor's smile softened at Donna's words. "I remember," he echoed back to her. They were transfixed on each other. Jack looked between the two of them and wondered if he was intruding, but he didn't feel anything from them to give him that impression so he just shrugged and went with it.

Donna reached for the Doctor's hand and squeezed it weakly, another look of understanding passing between them. Then she lay back and pushed away the Doctor's attempts to cover her with blankets.

"I _am _hot!" Donna grumbled, her eyes closing now. The Doctor stared at her and ran his hand through his hair. He looked thoroughly baffled.

"Yes you are, m'love," Jack smiled fondly down at Donna. "You just let me know if you want me to unbutton you," he offered solicitously. His teasing broke the tension in the room.

Donna opened one eye and fixed him with a glare, the effect of which was promptly ruined when she yawned.

"We should let you get some rest, Donna," the Doctor whispered, leaning over her now, trying to pull just a sheet around her.

"M'fine, stop fussin'" she mumbled sleepily.

Sighing, the Doctor abandoned the sheet and instead helped her as she tried to pull down her nightie from where it had ridden up on her legs. Her hand flopped tiredly onto the bed and he looked up to see her watching him as he smoothed the soft cotton over her knees.

"Thanks." She sounded embarrassed now. "My body's not workin' right."

"It's okay," he said quietly, "we'll take care of you now." He readjusted himself alongside her again and delicately swept tiny curls of hair back from her forehead.

"You know what I need?" Her words were muffled against the Doctor's chest.

"Tell me, Donna, anything, anything at all," the Doctor breathed.

"A cuppa, 'm parched."

He grinned.

"I can get it," offered Jack.

"No, I want it the way the Doctor makes it." She pulled away from him to look up at Jack, blinking fully awake and giving him an apologetic half-smile.

The captain shrugged. "If Ianto were here, the Doctor's tea wouldn't stand a chance."

"Coming right up!" The Doctor extricated himself from the bed carefully, pausing to kiss Donna's forehead before he moved away completely.

He turned to Jack but before he could say anything the other man promised, "I'll keep her safe and call you right away if there is any problem, Doctor."

The Doctor nodded in gratitude then with obvious reluctance left the room, only to bound back in a few moments later.

"Jack?"

"Mmm?"

"Keep your shorts on, would you?" His tone was casual but it wasn't a suggestion.

Jack grinned lazily and tipped him a mock-salute.

The Doctor waited until Donna nodded to him then he appeared satisfied and set off again.

"So, Miss Noble, I know you love the way I make your tea, so now that you have conspired to get us alone together, what did you have in mind?" Jack smirked lasciviously and settled in beside her, just a little closer than necessary.

"Why did you get your kit off?" There was a smile in her voice.

"You were cold. As a very sage alien hunter once said, the best way to save heat is to crawl naked into a sleeping bag with someone else who's already naked." Jack winked.

"Hmm," Donna mused, "maybe if it rains sleeping bags, you'll get lucky."

Jack's answering grin was positively beatific. "I found my Scully!"

Donna laughed. The sound was music to his ears.

"What am I going to do with you?"

"I'm more interested in what you want to do _to_ me," he rejoined, and kissed her shoulder lightly.

Donna sobered some as she watched him. "Jack…what happened? I mean…"

"Ah." He should have known she couldn't rest until she figured out what she did and didn't remember. He held out his hand, offering, waiting until she slid her fingers into his. His touch so reverent it contrasted with the casualness of his manner.

"You want to know what happened before or after you jumped me and tried to get all groiny?"

"Jack! You know full well I did no such thing!"

"Do I?" he teased, swallowing further comment for now and knowing it would be a long time before he forgot the experience of being part of a Time Lord and Donna sandwich, even if the lady in question had no recollection at all.

"Are you talking about earlier, back on the planet?" he asked.

She went still. "Yeah."

"Donna, look at me."

Putting his hands on her shoulders, Jack looked at her, waiting until he had her full attention.

"Donna, what happened between us is nothing to be ashamed of, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Even if we had gone at it like bunnies for hours you still would have nothing to be ashamed of!"

She sniffed and gave him a half smile. Inclining her head to one side in acknowledgment, some of the tension leaving her body. He leaned into her and her eyes widened as they looked up into his.

"Jack?"

"Mmm?" He pulled back slightly, expecting she was about to bat him away at any moment.

"I'm not even sure what was real, anymore, or who I was with…"

Jack looked into her blue-green eyes and saw tiredness and uncertainty. He stroked her hands and recounted the events of the day as best he could. Her gaze was mesmerizing. She listened quietly, sometimes biting her lip, but not interrupting. He stopped when he reached the point in the story where they figured out the cure.

"You got it off? Just by washing my feet?" Donna sat up in the bed.

"Thoroughly." Jack lay back on the pillows and smiled at her with a twinkle in his eye. He brought her hand to rest on his bare chest, absently hoping she would resume her exploration. The ghost of her soft hand delving lower on his body still left a pleasant wake of gooseflesh.

Donna regarded him. "So…you just saved my life with a foot massage?"

"I give foot rubs to die for!" he tipped her a saucy wink that he hoped covered just how close he was to getting all mushy. Flirtatious was easier for Jack.

She lowered her eyelashes playfully, losing the effect when her lips twitched into a grin. "I don't even know how to say thank you for something like that, you know," she continued, playing along with him in that easy bantering rhythm the two of them had found early on in their travels together.

"Oh I have a few ideas," he smirked, pressing her palm more firmly onto his chest. She tugged her hand away and batted at him sleepily.

"So, what do you remember Donna?" He tried to maintain his casual tone but her eyes on his told him she recognized the switch from flirting to serious. She reached for his hand now and squeezed it warmly. He held her hand in his, not letting her go when she released him.

"Everything, I think. Well, I mean, when it was me and the Doctor, that's all a bit blurry, like it was a dream or something, but I can't tell if that's cause it was all unreal or because it's him and me and that just seems…" Her voice grew softer. "Well, I guess you know by now how I feel about him."

Jack nodded and smiled at her encouragingly. These two were so dopey in love and yet so unable to even talk about it, it charmed him much as he sometimes just wanted to knock their heads together or lock them in a cupboard or something. "But you remember everything we did?"

"Yes." Her eyes were trained on his, waiting patiently for him to continue.

"And the conversation we had in the library? Before you fell asleep?"

She nodded and Jack sighed in relief and impulsively hugged her. Donna froze for barely a second, and then relaxed into his embrace.

When he finally released her she pulled back a bit and looked up at him. "Jack, what is it, what's wrong?"

His thumbs moved on her shoulders as he gripped her, gentle but firm, still trying to reassure himself. "I just thought...we weren't sure...sometimes with drugs like that there are amnesiac effects, but this one doesn't seem to have affected you that way." He trailed off, hearing the doubt that had crept back into his voice. "You're sure you remember being with me? In that weird kinda dungeon room? And what we did?"

She nodded again, her eyes round and confused. "And I also remember what we _didn't_ do. I don't understand, I would have thought you would have been relieved if I didn't remember it?"

Jack closed his eyes for a long moment before opening them slowly and looking back down at her.

"I was worried you'd have images, feelings, but not the whole memory; you and me, Donna, we did do some stuff leading up to what we 'didn't do' and if all you had in your head were flashes from that - my hands on you, my mouth...combined with how scared you were-"

"I wasn't scared," she protested.

"You were when you asked me to stop and you thought I wasn't going to," he countered gently.

She frowned, and looked away in embarrassment. "We talked about that," she said eventually. "You explained, and I get it, Captain." She looked back at him. "But that's why you needed me to remember what we said in the library, before I fell asleep?"

He nodded and breathed out. "Well, all right then."

"It's really important to you," Donna surmised. She reached for him again and pulled him to her, kissing his cheek then hauling him into another hug.

He held her tightly until she eventually ruffled his hair and murmured a self-conscious "you daft git" which worked to clear the heaviness that had fallen between them. He released her with an impish smile and a light peck on her cheek in return.

"He's a lucky man, your Time Lord."

"Are you gonna leave now? Go home?" she blurted out. She blinked hard a few times and Jack regarded her, seeing the signs of fatigue wearing at her composure.

"I think it's for the best—" he began but she cut him off.

"I don't want you to go. I'd miss you." She rubbed at her eyes.

"Donna, you and the Doctor need some time alone now, get to know each other."

"Geroff, I've been traveling with him alone for ages! We know each other!" Her voice was indistinct and she scrubbed harder at her face.

Jack could see she wasn't ready to talk about this so he followed her lead and made light of the situation. "Well…I was thinking more _knowing_ each other in the biblical sense," he teased.

"Perv!" She flapped at him and then covered her blush with her hands.

He gently peeled her hands away and took them in his. Her eyes were red with tiredness and he knew they were rapidly approaching the end of this lucid period, she'd be asleep within minutes.

"Donna, it's different now though, you know that. I think you need some time just to be the two of you." The more he said it the more he felt his resolve crumble. Or that could just be the way she was looking at him.

She opened her mouth to say something and then closed it again.

"What?" he pressed, not sure if they could ever get back to this conversation if she fell asleep now.

Donna swallowed.

"What are you afraid of, Donna? I know you aren't afraid of him, or of being alone with him."

"How could he… I mean…" she looked down at herself doubtfully, her voice wobbling slightly. Jack pressed her palms to get her attention.

"You're a gorgeous woman, Donna Noble, and we _both_ know he knows it. Or did you forget rolling around in bed with all the evidence just a few hours ago? Cause I'm telling ya girl, I'm not forgetting how that felt anytime soon, the man's hung like a—"

"Jack! All right! Shut up, I remember!" Her blush was most becoming as he sat back a little and released her hands. She yawned suddenly and he reluctantly realized he should let her rest.

"All right, Miss Noble, back to sleep with you."

"You're not leaving." She sounded sleepy, settling back on the bed, her hair fanning out around her on the pillow.

"I'll be right here," he promised, lying down as she tugged him down beside her.

"You know what I mean," she mumbled.

He looked at her intently, thinking to himself how hard it would be to leave her and the Doctor, and how much that alone was good reason why he needed to get some space. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her forehead as her eyes drifted closed.

"You won't ever get rid of me for long, Donna," he promised.

He looked up to see the Doctor standing in the doorway, three teacups balanced precariously in his hands.

On meeting his eyes, the Doctor padded quietly into the room. Jack helped him set down the tea, noting the Time Lord's long fingers were slightly stiff and wondering how long he had been standing there, grasping the mugs.

The Doctor looked down at the sleeping woman as they both stood over her. "She really doesn't want you to go, Jack."

"Do you?" he asked cautiously.

The Doctor looked at him then, his eyes dark. "I made three cups."


End file.
